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CIHM/ICMH 

Microfiche 

Series. 


CIHIVI/ICIVIH 
Collection  de 
microfiches. 


Canadian  Institute  for  Historical  Microreproductions  /  Institut  Canadian  da  microraproductions  historiquas 


\ 


\ 


>. 


iV 


Technical  and  Bibliographic  Notes/Notas  tachniquat  at  bibliographiquas 


Tha  Instituta  has  attamptad  to  obtain  tha  bast 
original  copy  availabia  for  filming.  Faaturas  of  this 
copy  which  may  ba  bibliographically  uniqua. 
which  may  altar  any  of  tha  imagas  in  tha 
raproduction,  or  which  may  significantly  changa 
tha  usual  mathod  of  filming,  are  chackad  balow. 


D 


D 


n 


D 
D 


D 


Coiourad  covars/ 
Couvartura  da  coulaur 


I      I   Covars  damagad/ 


Couvartura  andommagte 


Covars  rastorad  and/or  laminatad/ 
Couvartura  rastaurte  at/ou  palliculia 


I      I    Covar  titia  missing/ 


titra  da  couvartura  manqua 


I      I    Coiourad  maps/ 


Cartas  giographiquas  »n  coulaur 


Coiourad  ink  (i.a.  othar  than  blua  or  black)/ 
Encra  da  coulaur  (i.a.  autre  qua  blaua  ou  noira) 


I      I   Coiourad  platas  and/or  illustrations/ 


Planchas  at/ou  illustrations  an  coulaur 

Bound  with  othar  material/ 
ReliA  avac  d'autres  documents 

Tight  binding  may  cause  shadows  or  distortion 
along  interior  margin/ 

La  re  Mure  serrAe  peut  causer  de  I'ombre  ou  de  la 
distortion  le  long  de  la  marge  intirieure 

Blank  leaves  added  during  restoration  may 
appear  within  the  text.  Whenever  possible,  these 
have  been  omitted  from  filming/ 
II  se  peut  que  certaines  pages  blanches  ajouttes 
lors  d'une  restauration  apparaissent  dans  la  texte, 
mais.  lorsqua  cela  Atait  possible,  ces  pages  n'ont 
pas  iti  filmAas. 


Additional  comments:/ 
Commentairas  supplAmantaires: 


Various  pagingt. 


L'Institut  a  microfilm*  la  mailleur  exemplaire 
qu'il  lui  a  iti  possible  da  se  procurer.  Les  details 
da  cet  exemplaire  qui  sont  peut-Atre  uniques  du 
point  de  vue  bibliographique.  qui  peuvent  modifier 
une  image  reproduite,  ou  qui  peuvent  exiger  une 
modification  dans  la  mAthode  normala  de  filmaga 
sont  indiquAs  ci-dessous. 


|~~]   Coloured  pages/ 


Pages  de  couleur 

Pages  damaged/ 
Pages  endommagtes 

Pages  restored  and/oi 

Pages  restaur^as  at/ou  pallicuiies 

Pages  discoloured,  stained  or  foxet 
Pages  dicolorAes,  tacheties  ou  piqudes 

Pages  detached/ 
Pages  ditachias 

Showthrough/ 
Transparence 

Quality  of  prin 

Qualiti  inigale  de  I'impression 

Includes  supplementary  materit 
Comprend  du  material  supplimentaire 

Only  edition  available/ 
Seule  Edition  disponible 


I — I  Pages  damaged/ 

I      I  Pages  restored  and/or  laminated/ 

r~y{  Pages  discoloured,  stained  or  foxed/ 

I      I  Pages  detached/ 

r~^  Showthrough/ 

I      I  Quality  of  print  varies/ 

I      I  Includes  supplementary  material/ 

r~~|  Only  edition  available/ 


□ 


Pages  wholly  or  partially  obscured  by  errata 
slips,  tissues,  etc.,  have  been  refilmed  to 
ensure  the  best  possible  image/ 
Les  pages  totalament  ou  partialiament 
obscurcies  par  un  feuillet  d'errata,  una  pelure, 
etc.,  ont  M  filmies  A  nouveau  de  fapon  A 
obtenir  la  meilleure  image  possible. 


This  item  is  filmed  at  the  reduction  ratio  checked  below/ 

Ce  document  est  film*  au  taux  de  reduction  indiquA  ci-dessous. 


10X 

14X 

18X 

22X 

26X 

»X 

- 

y 

1 

- 

■ 

12X 


16X 


aox 


24X 


28X 


32X 


^>imi^,'^ 


The  copy  filmed  hare  hat  been  reproduced  thanka 
to  the  generoaity  of: 

BibliothAqua  nationale  du  QuAbec 


L'exempiaire  f  ilmA  f  ut  reproduit  grAce  h  la 
gAnAroalt*  da: 

BIbliothAque  nationale  du  Quebec 


The  imagea  appearing  here  are  the  beat  quality 
poaaibla  conaidering  the  condition  and  leglbillty 
of  the  original  copy  and  in  keeping  with  the 
filming  contract  speclficationa. 


Original  copiaa  in  printed  paper  covera  are  filmed 
beginning  with  the  front  cover  and  ending  on 
the  iaat  page  with  a  printed  or  iliuatratad  imprea- 
aion,  or  the  back  cover  when  appropriate.  All 
other  original  copiaa  are  filmed  beginning  on  the 
first  page  with  a  printed  or  iliuatratad  imprea- 
aion,  and  ending  on  the  iaat  page  with  a  printed 
or  iliuatratad  impreaaion. 


The  iaat  recorded  frame  on  each  microfiche 
shall  contain  the  symbol  — »-  (meaning  "CON- 
TINUED"), or  the  symbol  y  (meaning  "END"), 
whichever  applies. 

Mapa,  plates,  charts,  etc..  may  be  filmed  at 
different  reduction  ratios.  Those  too  large  to  be 
entirely  included  in  one  expoaure  are  filmed 
beginning  in  the  upper  left  hand  corner,  left  to 
right  and  top  to  bottom,  as  many  frames  as 
required.  The  following  diagrams  illustrate  the 
method: 


Lee  images  suivantes  ont  6tA  reproduites  avec  le 
plus  grand  soin,  compta  tenu  de  la  condition  at 
de  la  nettetA  de  l'exempiaire  filmA,  at  en 
conformity  avec  les  conditions  du  contrat  de 
filmage. 

Lea  exemplaires  originaux  dont  la  couverture  en 
papier  est  imprimte  sont  fllmte  en  commenpant 
par  le  premier  plat  at  en  terminant  aoit  par  la 
dernlAre  page  qui  comporte  une  empreinte 
d'impreasion  ou  d'illustratlon,  soit  par  le  second 
plat,  salon  ie  cas.  Tous  lea  autres  exemplaires 
originaux  aont  filmte  en  commenpant  par  la 
premlAre  page  qui  comporte  une  empreinte 
d'impreasion  ou  d'lllustratlon  at  en  terminant  par 
la  dernlAre  page  qui  comporte  une  telle 
empreinte. 

Un  des  symboies  sulvants  apparaftra  sur  la 
derniire  image  de  cheque  microfiche,  seion  le 
caa:  le  symbols  — ►  signifie  "A  SUIVRE",  le 
eymbole  ▼  signifie  "FIN". 

Les  cartes,  planches,  tableaux,  etc.,  peuvent  6tre 
fllmte  A  dea  taux  de  rMuction  diff Arents. 
Lorsque  le  document  est  trop  grand  pour  Atre 
reproduit  en  un  seul  clichA,  11  est  f  llmA  A  partir 
de  I'angle  aupAriaur  gauche,  de  gauche  A  droite, 
et  de  haut  en  tws,  en  prenant  le  nombre 
d'imeges  nAcessaire.  Las  diagrammes  suivants 
illustrent  la  mAthode. 


1 

2 

3 

1 

2 

3 

4 

5 

6 

1 


EEPORT 


OR  TBB 


PRISONS  AND  REFORMATORIES 


or  TBI 


UNITED  STATES  AND  CANADA, 


HADK  TO  TBI 


Leflalatue  of  New  Ywk,  Janiar j,  1 8tT. 


BT 


E.  C.  WINES,  D.  D.  LL.  D., 


AHD 


THEODORE  W.  DWIGHT,  LL.  D., 


coMMiMioiraRa  or  tus  pxisor  amociatioh  or  mw  tobk. 


• •  •  •  1, 
^    .  »  •    > 


...  ...  .   ...    ..,  .    .  .. 

'  '  -  » . . ; .  -  .  •  •  > 


*  •    •     •      .  • .  >  •  J  • .  1 ,   J 


•  •  • .       .■.  '   •  • 
.  ki.ft*.    .   ... 

•  *        •  *    •  •  . 


ALBANY: 

VAN  BENTHUTSBN  i  SONS'  STEAM  PRINTINa  HOUSE. 

1867. 


.• .     ' 


) 


OFFICERS  or  THE  PRISON  ASSOCIAmN  OF  NEW  YORK,  1867. 


-•♦- 


PRUIDBHT, 

JOHN  DAVID  WOLFE. 


TI0B-PK18ID>RTS> 


FRANCIS  LIEBER,  LL.  D., 
Hon.  JNO.  T.  HOFFMAN, 
JNO.  H.  GRISCOM,  M.  D., 


THEO.  W.  DWIQHT,  LL.  D. 
Hon.  J.  STANTON  OOULD, 
Hon.  CHAS.  J.  FOLGER. 


CORRBSPONDING  SBCRETART, 

E.  0.  WINES,  D.   D.,  LL.   D. 

RECORDTNO  8ECRBTARY, 

CEPHAS  BRAINERD,  Esq. 

TBBASnRER, 

WM.  C.  GILMAN. 


BZECUTITB  COMMITTBB, 


THEO.  W.  DWIGHT,  LL.  D.,  Choimsn, 

Hon.  WM.  F.  ALLEN, 

THOS.  D.  ANDERSON,  D.  D., 

JOHN  H.  ANTHON, 

FRANK  W.  BALLARD, 

ABRAHAM  REAL, 

WM.  T.  BOOTH, 

JOHN  A.  BRYAN, 

H.  K.  BULL, 

EDMUND  COFFIN, 

EDWARD  COOPER, 

STEPHEN  CUTTER, 

Hon.  JOHN  W.  EDMONDS, 


ELISHA  HARRIS,  M.  D., 
RENSSELAER  N.  HAVENS, 
GATLORD  B.  HUBBELL, 
JOHN  H.  KEYSER, 
JOHN  ORDRONAUX,  M.  D., 
SAMUEL  OSGOOD,  D.  D., 
JOHN  J.  OWEN,  D.  D.,  LL.  D. 
GEORGE  D.  PHELPS, 
ADAM  T.  SACKETT, 
HENRY  S.  TER6ELL, 
SINCLAIR  TOUSEY, 
JAS.  H.  TITUS, 
Hon.  ANDREW  D.  WHITE. 


GENERAL  AvtBNT, 

ABRAHAM  IBAL. 


43193 


Sihit  of  IHtiD  |arft. 


No.  35. 


IN  ASSEMBLY. 

January  8,  1867. 


SPECIAL  REPORT 

ON  THE  PRISONS  AND  REFORMATORIES  OP  THE  UNITED 

STATES  AND  CANADA. 

Hon.  E.  L.  Pitts,  Speaker  of  the  Asasembly : 

Sir — We  herewith  transmit  to  you  a  Special  Report  on  the 
Prisons  and  Reformatories  of  the  United  States  and  Canada,  with 
the  request  that  you  will  lay  the  same  before  the  Legislature. 
We  have  the  honor  to  be. 

Very  respectfully, 

Your  obedient  servants, 
E.  C.  WINES, 


E.  C.  WINES,  >  ^ 

THEO.  W.  DWIGHT,  ]  ^f>mrmmomra. 


Office  of  the  Prison  Association,  \ 
38  Bible  House,  N.  Y.,  Jan.  8, 1867.     \ 


CONTENTS. 


•**- 


Pag$. 

lNTR0DU0TI01f.«*> 1  -*1 

Soopaof  the  duty  aiiigned  to  the  oommlMlonen 1 

OooMton  of  their  mlMlon 1 

ObierTfttlons  extended  toOukd* 1 

The  lUtei  Tiaited  (18) S 

Olaiieiof  inititntioni  ezftmined S 

Our  penonkl  obierratloM  rapplemeoted  by  printed  interrogfttoriei S 

Aniweri  reoelved • .  •  •  • i 

Thanka  for  aid  thua  gtren 8 

Qeneral  intereat  ezpreaaed  in  our  miaaion 8 

Sonroe  from  whioh  the  preaent  report  hM  been  drawn • . . . .  4 

1.  Peraonal  notea  and  memoranda • 4 

3.  Printed  reporta  and  other  docnmenta  (70  volumea) 14 

8.  Anawera  to  interrogatorlea  (M) •....  10 

4.  Lettera  addreaaed  to  oommiaaionera  (6) 19 

Interrogatoriea  aentont • • 19 

1.  On  the  pardoning  power  (7) 19 

3.  On  atate  prlaona  (480) 19 

8.  On  county  Jaila  (103) 88 

4.  On  houaeaof  oorreotlon,  Ao.  (88) 89 

5.  Onjuvenile  reformatoriea  (77) 42 

0.  On  the  admlniatration  of  oriminal  Jnatice  (88) 44 

Priaon  reform  In  New  Tork  the  object  to  be  accompliahed  by  onr  miaaion 40 

The  congregate  ayatem  of  priaon  diaoipline  and  Jarenile  reformatoriea  origi- 
nated by  New  York 47 

Oar  priaon  ayatem  alow  in  ita  progreaa  toward  perfection 47 

To  haaten  thia  conaummation,  the  object  of  the  Priaon  Aaaociation  and  of  the 

eommiaaion.. 47 


CHAPTER  I. 

Statb  Prisons 49-813 

Prison  diaoipline — ita  prinoiplea«  aima,  methods,  reanlta,  &«.— the  acope  of  the 

preaent  inquiry 49 

Vaat  importance  of  the  inquiry 49 

The  philoaophy  of  public  puniahment  profoundly  intereating 49 

Our  paper  includea  both  a  detail  of  facta  and  the  diacnaaion  of  principlea ; 
being,  therefore,  at  once,  a  report  on  priaona  and  a  treatiae  on  priaon  dia- 
oipline    60 

SECTION  FIRST. 

Prison  Ststrkb SO  -77 

Two-fold  aspect  of  thia  inquiry :  first,  as  to  internal  discipline;  second,  as  to 
classes  of  penal  institutions  constituting  any  given  system 60 


1 


Viii  001frCNT8« 

Paiaov  Brunnt—OmitUutti. 

Undtr  tha  fint  rtUtion,  two  lyiUmi  of  ImprifOBmral  In  th«  Unitod  8tol«f» 

thoNpMftU  Md  ooDgra(»t« M 

Tho  Np»rat«  lyittm  nowharo  fsvnd  la  Ualtod  0UI«i  o«t  of  PtnniylTmU.. ..  60 
Th«  dlioiplin*  of  th«  weiUrn  paniUntiary  loott,  oomparad  wUh  that  of  tho 

•aiUrn , M 

Tba  praiaat  haad  of  tho  fonaor  appolatod,  withoat  •xporltaoo,  at  too  ad- 

rannd  aa  ago M 

Mo  man  OTor  forty  ihonid  be  appolntod  a  prUon  ofloor,  and  why SI 

Stat*  prlion  at  Tronton,  M.  J.*  organliod  originally  on  tho  lopaiato  plan...*  6S 

MtiglTlngi  oarly  folti  by  tbo  aathorltio*,  b?  tbo  oporatlun  of  tho  lyitom ftS 

1.  Ai  to  Iti  roformatory  powor 61 

S.  In  a  lanltary  point .  f  Tlow,  both  bodily  and  montal 61 

8.  In  roipoot  of  it!  flnanolal  rtiulta .  61 

Tho  lyitcm  at  length  replaoedby  tho  oeagrogato 68 

Moral  eonilderatlona  not  ozeladed,  bnt  flnanelal  moot  potont  la  offootlng  tho 

ebango • • • 68 

State  prUon  of  Rhode  Iilaad  foanded  on  tho  nparato  priaolple 68 

Early  donbti  of  the  managen  at  to  the  wledoB  and  afleteaoy  of  tho  lyitem. .  64 
The  warden  regarded  it  as  a  «  flow,  eorrodiag  proeoiii"  fatal  to  the  health  of 

mind  and  body 64 

The  eongregate  lyitem  iabitiluted 66 

Finanoial  oonslderatloni  partly*  moral  ooniideratloai  mainly,  tho  gronnd  of 

the  ohange • 66 

Separate  lyitemi  In  effeot,  now  ooaflnad  to  Philadelphia 66 

Ha*  proved  a  failure  oTerywhere  elao  in  United  State* 66 

No  inferenoe  thenee  dedaeible  agalait  tho  Taiaa  of  the  vyetem  In  Ite  proper 

plaoe • • 66 

Bai  immenie  Talno  for  eonnty  Jaili,  and  aa  tho  ialtlal  part  of  a  reformatory 

priion  diaoipiine 66 

Outaido  of  Pennsylvania  tho  oongregato  or  ailent  ayatem  aniveraal  in  United 

Bute 69 

Ita  anoient  rigor  oommonly  mnoh  relaxed • 66 

Both  ayitema  have  a  oommon  ba*ia->liolation  and  labor 64 

The  dilTerence  Ilea  in  the  different  methoda  by  whieh  tho  iaelation  ia  effeoted. .  66 
Seeond  aapeet  of  the  inqairy  relating  to  priaoa  qratema— that  of  the  Mveral 

inatitationa  eompoaingany  given  ayatem 66 

Moat  of  our  atatea  have  three  oiaaaea  of  anoh  in8titBtion8~-via  t  atate  priaona, 

ooanty  Jaila  and  Jnvenile  reformatoriea 69 

Some  have  another  grade— hooaea  of  oorreotion  or  loeal  penitentiariea 66 

Exhibition  of  the  priaop  ayatema  of  the  aeveral  atatea  and  Oaaada,  oonaidered 

inthiaview 67  -61 

Moral  euro  of  erlminala  regarded,  everywhere,  aa  the  beat  meana  of  repreaaing 

crime 61 

Two  teata  of  a  priaon  ayatem — via:  Urat,  how  far  doea  it  aim  at  reformation? 

and,  aeoondly,  how  elBoiently  doea  it  porano  that  end  7 63 

No  priaoa  ayatem  for  adalto  in  Uaited  SUtea,  that  eonld  abide  either  of  theao 

teata 6S 

A  ayatem  aketohed  that  aoenu  to  the  eommiaaioMn  beat  adapted  to  tha  ends 

in  view 63  -77 

Oompnlaory  odneatloa  a  neeeaaary  preliminary  atop 63 

A  priaoa  ayatem,  to  Im  effeetive,  abould  eonaiat  of 

I.  Preventive  inatitationa,  in  whieh  the  tme  field  of  promiae  Ilea 63 

1.  Public  nnraeriea  for  children  of  two  to  aix  yeara  old 68 

3.  Induatrial  aehoola  for  exposed  children  not  yet  tainted  with 

crime 64 

Theoe  two  elaaaaa  of  Inatitationa  would  dxy  up  the  moat  prolifio 

fouatala  of  erim«....<.«. 66 


PH»' 

to»M, 

M 

»...• 

M 

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M 

0  Ml. 

SI 

•  «  t  •  t 

n 

!!•••• 

ftS 

fti 

5S 

63 

•  •••    - 

U 

68 

1  th« 

68 

68 

Item.. 

64 

kith  of 

64 

66 

nndof 

66 

66 

66 

66 

iKtorj 

66 

6« 

►  ••••• 

6« 

•  •••• 

6« 

66 

Irani 

8« 

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•« 

6« 

d«r«d 

..  67  -41 

Miing 

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83 

thew 

63 

•nda 

..  02 

-77 

•  •••• 

63 

■  ••  •• 

63 

»  •  •  •  • 

63 

with 


64 


66 


00NTBMT8.  ix 

PsMOR  Btnniu—Comiim$4.  9tt. 

II.  JnTaniU  raformatorlti 66 

ThM«  now  ailit  In  moit  itftlM,  bat  th«  ■yitam  ntals  •  graftt 

•DUrgamtnti  knd  Mm*  •hftog*  ia  Iti  organiiatlon ..........  66 

1.  An  abiolHt*  Mparatloa  of  Iha  Nxw 66 

S.  A  graatar  BM  of  th«  (kmUy  priaelpU 66 

8.  Tha  Introduotlon  of  inbdirUioaa,  now  unknown ........  66 

4.  Tha  anfonamant  bjr  law  of  tha  prinaipla  of  tha  paraat'i 
raiponflbilltjr  to  pay,  in  part  at  laait>  for  tha  inpport 

of  bli  child  in  thaia  inititutloni 06 

Thii  prinoipla,  though  unknown  to  na,  haa  workad  wall 

abroad 67 

in.  Oountyjail 67 

PromtNUoni  aaaoolatlon  tha  graat  aril  of  our  pr««ent  Jail  lyitam.  67 

Abioluta  wparatlon  tha  traa  ranady 67 

rV.  A  olaaa  of  priiona  intarmadiata  batwaan  tha  itate  priaon  and  tha 

eommon  Jail 67 

Diitrlet  pritoaa  tha  nam*  propoaad  for  Naw  York 68 

Common  Jaila  ara  proparly  mare  honaaa  of  arrait,  and  can  narer 

ba  mada raformatoriai ....••• 08 

Adrantagaa  to  ba  axpaotad  firom  tha  ayitam  of  diatriot  priioni 

annmaratad  in  aaran  partionlan 08 

Dlitriot  priiona  for  women  ihonld  ba  aaparata  from  thoie  for  man 

on  moral,  aanitary,  eeonomleal  and  adminiatrative  gronndi ....  79 

V.  The  itata  priaon  71 

Rafornu  tha  moat  material  needed  hare,  aren  auppoiing  tha  pio- 

■ant  ayitam.  In  the  main,  to  be  retained 72 

But  preient  ayatem  defeotive  in  aome  fundamental  partionlan, 

and  ahould  be  replaced  by  abetter 72 

Iriih  ayitem  affordi  the  beat  model 72 

In  ita  bread  prinoiplei,  may  be  applied  to  our  atate 72 

Reformation,  under  that  ayatem,  the  aetual  aa  It  ia  the  declared 

ottJeot 73 

Fate  of  the  priioner  put  by  it  in  hia  own  handa 78 

Four  diatinct  atagei 73 

1.  Separate  impriionment 78 

2.  Aaiooiated  labor  by  day  and  aaparata  eonflnement  by  night  78 

8.  Intermediate  priaon 73 

4.  Conditional  pardon 74 

The  advooatea  of  the  leparate  and  eongregate  ayatems  may  meet 

here  on  eommon  ground 74 

Extraordinary  reaulta  effeeted  by  the  ayatem  in  Ireland 76 

Changea  in  oar  preaent  ayatem  mnat  be  made  eautioualy  and 

gradually 75 

VI.  Proriaion  ahould  be  made  for  the  aid  of  dlaohargad  priaonera 75 

To  make  luah  proTialon  the  elear  duty  of  the  atate 70 

SECTION  SECOND. 

GBNIBAL  ADIIIMI8TBATI0If 77  -85 

No  central  authority  in  any  atate,  having  a  general  control  orer  ita  priaon 

ayatem 77 

State  priaona  under  the  control  of  boarda  of  inipeetora 77 

Inspectora  generally  appointed  by  governor  or  legialature;   in  New  York 

elected  by  the  people 78 

Immediate  adminiatration  entmated  to  the  superintendent,  but  under  the 

general  direction  of  the  inapeotora 79 

The  moat  important  poaition  in  the  atate  priioa  that  of  aaperintendent 79 

Qualifleationa  required  in  thia  ofioar 79 


3e  CONTENTS.  ^ 

f 
GiNSRAL  Administration— Coiifinu«<{.  Pagt. 

Frequent  ohangei  advene  to  getting  men  of  right  stamp 79 

Cnnada  bas  a  central  board 80 

Powers  and  duties  of  the  lioard : 

1.  As  respects  the  proTinoial  penitentiary 80 

2.  As  regards  tiommon  jails  and  other  prisons 81 

The  board  not  clothed  with  adequate  powers 82 

Has,  nevertheless,  eifeoted  important  reforms 82 

The  creation  of  a  central  authority  in  our  stat*  absolutely  essential  to  effec- 
tive reform..... 82 

The  most  intelligent  and  experienced  prison  olBoers  favor  the  creation  of  such 

boards 84 

Results  of  the  system  in  France 85 

SECTION  THIRD. 

Prison  Prbhisbs  and  Buildings • 86-118 

Qrounds  belonging  to  state  prisons  visited  vary  from  half  an  acre  to  200  acres.  80 
Premises  and  buildings  of  the  state  prisons  of 

1.  Connecticut 88 

2.  Delaware 88 

3.  Illinois 87 

4.  Northern  Indiana 88 

6.  Southern  Indiana 88 

6.  Kentucky 88 

7.  Maine 89 

8.  Massachusetts 00 

9.  Maryland 91 

•    10.  Michigan 02 

11.  Missouri 93 

12.  New  Hampshire 94 

13.  New  Jersey 94 

14.  Ohio 94 

15.  Pennsylvania  (eastern  penitentiary) « 06 

16.  do  (western       do  ) 98 

17.  Rhode  Island ■, 100 

18.  Vermont 100 

19.  West  Virginia 100 

20.  Wisconsin 100 

21.  Canada  (provincial  penitentiary) 102 

22.  New  York  (Auburn) ., 104 

23.  do         (Sing  Sing) .' 105 

24.  do        (Clinton 107 

Great  objects  to  be  kept  in  view  in  fixing  the  site  of  a  prison 108 

These  objects,  in  the  main,  secured  in  United  States  and  Canada 108 

Unfortunate  disposition  to  lavish  expenditure  on  prison  buildings. 108 

Chief  points  to  be  aimed  at  in  prison  oonstruotion 100 

Highly  ornamental  prison  structures  obectionable,  because I09 

1.  They  add  to  the  cost  of  crime 109 

2.  They  have  a  mischievous  tendency  to  give  dignity  to  crime 110 

3.  They  render  changes  and  improvements  difficult  because  of  the  losses 

thereby  entailed 110 

Plans  for  prisons  should  be  simple  and  adapted  to  the  ends  in  view Ill 

Most  state  prisons  have  female  departments m 

This  arrangement  objectionable,  because  of  the  difficulty  of  preventing  com- 
munication betwen  the  sexes 112 

A  practical  difficulty,  and  how  to  be  obviated 112 

The  cells  generally  too  small  in  American  state  prisons 112 

Same  objection  lies  against  their  windows 113 


CONTENTS. 


XI 


Pbisoh  Pbumm  ahd  Bmhiiinot— Continued.  Pagt. 

AmeriosD  priioni,  for  the  most  part,  too  large 114 

Sooh  prisons  obstruct  individukliiation 114 

Prisons  should  be  oUssified,  so  that,  as  far  as  possible,  we  should  have — 

1.  Separate  prisons  for  females 11& 

2.  Separate  prisons  for  the  young 116 

3.  Separate  prisons  for  different  occupations 116 

4.  Separate  prisons  for  the  worst  class  of  prisoners 116 

Such  a  classification  of  prisons  Impossible  without  a  central  authority ........  118 

SECTION  FOURTH. 

QOTEBNHKNT ;• llft-133 

The  title  of  inspectors  a  misnomer ;  they  are  governors 116 

Though  not  its  immediate  agents,  they  everywhere  direct  the  administration,  116 

Their  power  extends  to  everything  in  the  New  York  prisons 117 

Detail  of  their  functions  in  New  York 117 

Compensation  of  inspectors  in  United  States  and  Canada 117 

State  prison  staffs  and  their  duties 118 

Salaries  paid  to  American  prison  officers  not  liberal 119 

Must  be  increased  before  men  of  suitable  qualifications  can  be  obtained 119 

What  are  the  qualifications? 119 

1.  Prison  officers  should  be  men  of  strict  sobriety 120 

2.  They  should  be  men  of  mild  and  even  temper 120 

3.  They  should  be  men  of  decision  and  energy 120 

4.  They  should  be  men  of  humane  and  benevolent  feelings 120 

6.  They  should  have  a  sincere  interest  in  the  prisoners 121 

6.  They  should  be  men  of  high  moral  principle,  and  be  distiDgnished 

for  industry,  order  and  cleanliness 121 

7.  They  should  possess  a  good  knowledge  of  human  nature 121 

8.  They  should  be  of  incorruptible  integrity 121 

0.  They  should  be  men  of  experience •. 122 

10.  They  should  be  of  a  just  and  steadfast  purpose 122 

11.  They  should  be  men  of  sleepless  vigilance 122 

12.  They  should  have  a  genuine  liking  for  their  occupation 123 

13.  They  should  be  duly  impressed  with  religious  principlee 122 

The  higher  the  officer's  position,  the  more  varied  his  qualifications  should  be,  123 

Female  officers  should  be  distinguished  for  modesty  and  the  domestic  virtues,  123 

A  majority  of  prison  officers  deficient  in  qualification ]24 

Causes  of  this  deficiency — where  to  be  sought? 124 

1.  In  the  inadequate  oempensatioD  paid..... ..  ..,^ 124 

2.  In  the  control  given  to  party  politics  in  oar  prisons 124 

Political  influence  the  dominating  power  in  most  ef  our  state  prisons 123 

This  eminently  the  case  in  Wisconsin  and  New  York,  especially  the  latter  . . .  126 

In  making  appointments  in  New  York,  little  attention  given  to  qualifications,  126 

Political  appointments  the  radical  defect  ef  our  prison  syitems ,  • . ., ....  127 

Private  business  never  conducted  on  suoh  principles 127 

The  remedy  lies — 

1.  In  discarding  party  politics  from  prison  administration 128 

2.  In  making  ftnets  the  sole  condition  of  appointment 128 

3.  In  establishing  tests  to  ascertain  the  qualifications  of  candidates. ..  128 

4.  In  making  the  tenure  of  office  permanent 128 

6.  In  authorising  the  superintendent  to  appoint  his  subordinates 129 

7.  In  establishing  a  gradation  of  rank  in  office 129 

8.  In  the  payment  of  adequate  salaries « 129 

9.  In  making  provision  for  the  superannuated (29 

Modes  of  appointment  to  office  in  different  states isO 

Officers  required  to  abstain  from  liquor  and  profanity  « 130 


xii  oosTwsm. 

fiOTIRNHBNT— COfltiniMi.  Pogt. 

Thiirnle  not  generally  enforaed ......i. 131 

Inipeotion  of  prisons — how  proridtd  for 131 

The  aTtli  of  politioal  inflnenoe  f urtlier  eonsidered 132 

SEOTIOK  FIFTH. 

SisciPLiNK 134-184 

Rules  and  regulations  substantially  tlie  same  in  all  state  prisons 134 

Abstract  of  the  rules  in  the  Massachusetts  state  prison 134 

Daily  routine  of  duty  in  same 135 

Abstract  of  rules  in  the  Ohio  state  prison 137 

do               Wisconsin  state  prison...... 188 

do               New  Tork  state  prisons 138 

The  usage  as  to  the  place  for  taking  meals  varies  in  dHTersnt  prisons— some- 
times in  cells,  sometimes  in  separate  mess-roomi. 139 

/   '  Mode  of  receiving  prisoners  illustrated — 

1.  In  the  practice  at  Sing  Sing 140 

2.  do  eastern  penitentiary 140 

Rules  generally  printed  on  cards  and  hung  up  in  cells 140 

Chaplains  not  required  to  converse  with  prisoners  on  their  entrance,  but  a 

considerable  number  doit 141 

Too  little  pains  taken,  on  the  entrance  of  a  prisoner,  to  give  his  mind  a  right 

direction  142 

An  important  work  to  be  done  just  then,  and  what  it  is 142 

Charlestown  prison  preSminent  in  this .- 142 

The  duty  suggested  should  be  required  of  oliaplains 143 

Convicts  generally  put  immediately  to  work  on  their  entrance 143 

Great  progress  made  in  prison  reform  within  a  hundred  years 143 

Description  of  prisons  prior  to  Howard's  time 143 

Horrors  and  cruelties  practised  in  them 143 

A  wonderful  change  wrought  sinee  then 144 

The  law  of  force  giving  way  to  the  law  of  love • 144 

Best  prison  officers  agree  that  the  humane  system  is  most  effective  in  securing 

good  discipline 145 

Testimony  of  Mr.  Haynes 145 

do        of  Mr.  Cordier 145 

do        of  Mr.  Miller 146 

A  useful  lesson  to  be  learned',  here  from  Ood'i  moral  government ...........  147 

Reformation  through  kindness  His  method 147 

Howard's  opinion  on  this  subject 147 

Mr.  Hubbell's  practice  in  this  regard,  as  warden  of  Sing  Sing 147 

Remarkable  tribute  to  him  in  verse,  by  a  convict 148 

Kindness  should  find  ezpreasion  in  a  comprehensive  system  of  rewards 140 

Hope  a  necessary  element  in  reformation 150 

Ko  well  considered  or  wisal^adjufted  scheme  of  rewards  established  in  our 

American  prisons • 169 

Some  prison  officers  oppose  aaoh  a  system 160 

The  wisest  favor  it 151 

Hope  the  fundamental  prino^le  of  the  Irish  system 151 

The  same  true  of  Capt.  Maefcvnoehie's  mark  syttem 151 

Wonderful  results  of  that  system  on  Norfolk  Island 152 

The  principle  of  hope  little  availed  of  in  American  prisons 152 

Our  commutation  law  an  excellent  foundation  for  an  effective  system  of 

rewards 163 

The  prinoiple  of  this  law  founded  in  reason  and  its  policy  wise 163 

Testimonies  of  prison  ofleers  in  its  favor 154 

The  law  fully  explained  t*  eonvlets  on  their  entracee 165 


Pttgi. 

..  131 
..  131 
,.  132 

184 
134 

134 

135 

137 

138 

138 

ome- 
139 

140 

140 

140 

bat  » 

141 

right 

142 

142 

142 

143 

143 

143 

143 

143 

144 

144 

aring 

146 

146 

145 

146 

147 

147 

147 

147 

148 

149 

150 

a  our 

169 

150 

151 

151 

151 

152 

152 

im  of 

153 

163 

154 

155 


% 


CONTENTS.  Xiii 

DisciPLiHB— C<m/C»M»«rf«  Page. 

Highly  priied  by  ooMTieta 155 

Uniform  $    \  oondu«t  io  «ome  states  restcrea  a  oonTiot  to  fall  eitiienabip  «■ 

hi^  '.'b         an • 154 

Mr.  Cort-        troqgly  nrges  a  system  cf  rewards 159 

Sodoes  ids.  Miller 167 

His  own  praotioe  described,  witb  its  results 168 

Rewards,  as  far  m  possible,  should  be  atttoral 169 

Majority  of  prisoners  open  to  samo  goed  motires  and  impulses  as  otlier  men.  •  161 
la  most  state  prisons  some  Kttle  iadulgenoes  awarded  toeonriots  on  public  holi- 
days   161 

These  holiday  privileges  most  extensively  granted  in  Massachusetts,  where 

they  have  been  reduced  te  something  like  a  system 162 

Useful  results  aocemplished  by  them 162 

Testimony  of  Mr.  Haynes  t«  Uieir  utilityi  in  a  paper  read  before  the  Social 

Science  Association 16S 

Punishments  employed  instate  prisons...- 164-168 

Kindness  found  m«re  effeetire  than  severity 168 

«  Comparative  frequency  of  punishments  in  diiferent  prisons 169 

Punishments  made  matter  of  record  Almost  everywhere 171 

Punishment  most  frequently  inflietod  for  cemmunioatang 171 

More  frequent  in  some  shops  than  others — causes  of  this 171 

Short-term  men  oftener  punished  than  these  imprisoned  on  long  sentences. .  172 
Whether  death  or  permanent  iqjury  has  ever  resulted  from  prison  punishments,  172 

Subordinate  officers  formerly  allowed  to  punish 172 

This  power  now  denied,  with  but  one  exception 173 

Little  need  of  punishment  in  a  well  ordered  prison 173 

When  necessary,  should  be  made,  as  far  as  possible,  to  arise  naturally  out  of 

the  offence 173 

No  tests  in  anjr  American  prison  to  measure  the  ability  of  prisoners  to  resist 

temptation 174 

Congregate  system  should  be  supplemented  with  solitary  cells  for  the  eviU 

disposed 174 

Prisoners  entitled  to  complain  of  injustice  of  under-offioers 175 

The  rule  of  absolute  silence  abolished  in  four  j>usons 175 

The  rule  greatly  relaxed  in  most  others 175 

In  a  few,  the  ancient  rigor  maintained « 175 

Exemplification  of  this  in  Connecticut 175 

Theory  of  the  congregate  system  a  rigid  prohibition  of  inter-eommunioation,  176 

How  far,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  non-intercourse  is  secured 176 

Bttle  of  silence  evaded  constantly  and  in  many  ways. 177 

Mr.  Miller  boldly  proposes  its  abolishment 177 

The  multiplication  of  artificial  rules  to  be  avoided 178 

A  prison  system  to  be  preferred  that  works  with,  rather  than  against,  nature.  178 

Separate  imprisonment  desirable  as  a  first  stage  of  punishment 179 

This  highly  punitive  stage  to  melt  into  probation,  and  probation  gradually 

into  full  freedom 179 

The  free  play  of  the  social  nature  the  great  spring  of  human  improvement. .  179 

This  principle  to  be  applied  in  prison  life 179 

The  objection  that  the  intercourse  of  prisoners  is  necessarily  corrupting  met 

and  obviated.... IgO 

The  self-respect  of  prisoners  to  be  respected  and  cultivated 181 

Parti-celored  dress  abolished  in  Massachusetts — should  be  in  all  prisons. ...«  181 

The  abolishment  works  well  in  Massachusetts 182 

Has  been  abolished  in  all  Scottish  and  some  English  prisons 183 

Lock-step  wounds  self  respect  of  prisoners  less,  but  should  be  discarded 183 

Provision  generally  ample  in  our  state  prisons  for  quelling  a  revolt 183 


XIV  OONTENTe. 

Pag». 

SECTION  SIXTH. 

HoRAt  amdRkuoious  Aoimoiib 184-320 

Supreme  imporUnoe  of  snoh  agenoies 184 

Oreat  progress  made  in  this  direction 184 

Slietoh  of  this  progreii  in  English  prisons 184-186 

Fearful  lack  of  religious  and  moral  influences  prior  to  Howard's  time..  184 
Latimer  lifted  up  his  voice  against  thenncheclied  heathenism  of  prisons  185 
Earlier  efforts  in  this  direction  hy  Bernard  Oilpin  and  the  non-conformist 

ministers ; 185 

Later,  Whitfield,  the  Wesieys  and  their  followers  preached  much  in  prisons..  185 

Pre-eminent  devotion  of  Sarah  Peters  to  this  work 185 

Lahors  of  Silas  Told  in  prisons  for  twenty-five  years 186 

Act  passed  in  1773  authorising  the  appointment  of  chaplains  in  English  jails,  186 

English  prisons  now  well  supplied  in  this  respect 186 

History  of  religious  instruction  in  American  prisons 186-102 

Religions  condition  of  these  prisons  in  1826 186 

Some  little  sums  paid  to  religious  teachers 186 

Not  a  single  resident  prison  chaplain  then  in  the  United  States 187 

Many  prison  officers  made  earnest  efforts  in  this  direotion,  and  resident 

chaplains  were  appointed  in  1827  in  Auburn  and  Sing  Sing 188 

Decided  and  rapid  progress  made  from  that  time 188 

In  1833  every  state  prison  cell  in  the  country  supplied  with  a  bible  ....  189 

Bible  much  read  by  the  prisoners  at  that  time 18^ 

Resident  chaplaincies  soon  after  established  in  many  prisons 189 

Flourishing  Sabbath  schools  reported  in  ten  prisons  in  1833 190 

Morning  and  evening  prayers  established  in  some  prisons 191 

Immense  good  accomplished  through  chaplains  and  Sabbf^th  schools. . .  192 
Present  state  of  religious  instruction  in  the  prisons  of  the  United  States  and 

Canada 192 

Bluoh  attention  given  to  this  subject  in  the  provincial  penitentiary 193 

Zealous  labors  of  Chaplain  Mulkins 193 

View  held  by  the  Canadian  inspectors  of  the  value  of  religion  as  an  agency 

of  reformation 195 

General  view  of  the  provision  made  for  religions  instruction  in  the  prisons  of 

the  United  States  at  the  present  time 196 

Prisons  in  which  Sabbath  schools  are  established 196 

Daily  religious  services  held  in  prisons  of  Massachusetts  and  Connecticut)  but 

in  no  others 198 

One  service  and  sermon  on  Sunday  in  all 198 

A  prison  choir  and  melodeon  in  most  prisons 198 

The  service  of  song  found  to  have  a  good  effect 198 

The  Lord's  supper  never  administered,  but  baptism  occasionally 198 

Convicts'  prayer  meetings 199 

Testimony  to  the  interest  taken  by  convicts  in  the  religious  services 202 

Religious  offices  to  the  sick  and  the  dying 202 

Disposition  made  of  the  bodies  of  deceased  prisoners 203 

A  burial  service  performed  in  some  prisons,  in  others  not 203 

A  copy  of  the  bible  placed  in  every  cell 204 

The  bible  in  general  much  read  by  convicts 204 

Religious  tracts  and  papers  freely  distributed 205 

Pastoral  labor  performed  by  chaplains 206 

As  a  class,  prison  chaplains  earnest,  devoted  men 206 

Hampered  in  their  work,  especially  by  the  contract  system 206 

Conversation  with  convicts  on  their  entrance,  how  far  practiced  and  how  far 

neglected  by  chaplains 206 

How  far  volunteer  workers  are  admitted 207 

Importance  and  value  of  such  labors... 208 


CONTENTS.  XY 

MORAI.  AND  RiLIOIOPS  AfllKOIBB— ConfiiMMd.   .  Pag». 

Ref alts  of  the  religious  influenoei  brought  to  bear  on  conviota 300 

The  religioui  element  might  and  should  be  made  more  prominent  in  our  priioni  210 

HoaesO.  Filsbury'i  teitimony  on  this  aubject SIS 

A  daily  aervice  of  prayer  deairable • SIS 

Pre -eminent  ^alue  of  paatoral  work...  .» 312 

How  far  the  after  life  of  priaonera  juatify  the  hopea  inspired  by  their  oondnot 

in  prison , SIS 

The  correspondenoe  of  oonvicta  a  potent  moral  agenoy 318 

To  what  officers  this  agency  is  committed 318 

Should  be  confided  to  chaplaina 313 

Reatriotions  placed  on  correapondenoe 314 

Character  of  convicts*  eorreapondence.... 316 

Proportion  of  convictawho  write  lettera  large 218 

How  far  the  correspondence  of  convicts  is  used  to  impart  or  deepen  good  im- 
pressions on  their  minds... 318 

Visits  of  fHends  another  important  moral  agency 217 

Influence  of  such  visits  generallyi  not  universally>  regarded  as  salutary 318 

General  visitors  another  potent  moral  agency 218 

Prison  officers,  almost  without  exception,  regard  auch  visitation  as  injurious 

to  the  oonvicta , 318 

Large  proportion  of  the  visitora  femalea 310 

Prisoners  may  bring  their  burdens  and  complaints  to  the  wardens 310 

Testimony  of  wardens  unanimous  to  the  beneficial  influence  of  this  liberty  . .  220 

SECTION  SEVENTH. 

SecuiiAr  InstruotioiC 221-230 

Startling  answer  of  a  convict  to  the  question,  "  Why  do  yon  not  have  better 

thoughts?" 221 

The  answer  suggests  the  whole  philosophy  of  crime  and  reformation 221 

To  expel  old  thoughts  and  provide  new  and  better  ones  the  object  proposed 

in  the  mental  culture  of  convicts -221 

Systematic  and  active  efi'orts  in  this  direction  needed 221 

How  far  the  means  of  education  are  provided  in  Scottish  and  English  prisons.  221 

'        History  of  secular  instruction  and  libraries  in  American  prisons 222-220 

First  notice  of  this  in  a  report  made  to  Senate  of  New  York  in  1822. ..  222 

Next  mention  of  it  in  Judge  Power's  report  of  1827 222 

Sunday-school  opened  that  year  in  Auburn  to  teach  reading 222 

The  privilege  of  learning  eagerly  embraced  by  convicts 222 

All  early  prison  Sunday-schools  instituted  with  a  primary  reference  to 

secular  instruction. 223 

An  act  paaaed  in  1820  by  the  legislature  of  Kentucky,  requiring  a 

school  to  be  kept  four  hours  every  Sabbath 223 

The  same  year,  matter  of  intereat  on  the  subject  contained  in  a  report 

to  the  legislature  of  New  York , 224 

Three  items  of  interest,  relating  to  secular  instruction  in  prisons,  em- 
bodied in  the  report  of  the  Boston  P.  D.  Society  for  1841 225 

The  above  items  contain  the  first  intimations  met  with  in  our  researches 

of  regular  instruction  in  prison  schools 225 

This  idea  next  year  (1842)  urged  by  a  committee  of  the  Connecticut 

legislature 225 

A  provision  of  the  same  year  on  the  same  subject,  by  the  directors  of 

the  Wethersfield  prison ,  226 

The  chaplains  at  Auburn  and  Sing  Sing,  at  the  same  time  pleading 

hard  for  an  enlargement  of  the  means  of  instruction 226 

A  debating  society  in  Charlestown  prison 226 

An  act  passed  in  1847  by  the  legislature  of  New  York,  providing  for 
the  appointment  of  teachers  in  all  the  state  prisons 227 


^ 


XVI  00NTENT8. 

SiouLAB  In»nvcti0V'-CofUinu$d,  Pag$. 

Other  Statea  hftT*  followed  the  M»mple  of  New  York SS8 

Intereitiog  notiee  of  a  new  prison  lohool  in  Wiiooniin 328 

First  notice  fonnd  hj  na  looking  toward  a  prison  library,  contained  in  a 
code  of  rulei  enacted  by  the  inspectors  of  the  Kentaoky  penitentiary 

inl803 3S8 

First  prison  library  in  New  Tork  established  in  1840 338 

9100  appropriated  to  this  object  by  New  Jersey  in  1841 339 

In  1847,  libraries  found  inmost  of  the  States 220 

Remarkable  origin  of  the  library  of  Alton  prison,  Illinois 229 

The  testimony  of  prison  otBoers  of  that  early  period  uniform  as  to  the 

good  effects  of  prison  libraries 329 

Provision  for  the  instmction  of.  convicts  in  Canada 230 

Proportion  of  prisoners  unable  to  read  in  U.  S.  prisons 231 

Some  secular  instruction  given  in  most  of  them 231 

In  Indiana,  school  held  from  Nov.  1st  to  March  1st 231 

In  Ohio  throughout  the  year 231 

In  most  prison  instruction  imparted  in  cells 232 

Branches  taught 232 

Prison  libraries 232 

Books  usually  selected  by  chaplains 333 

Character  of  books  composing  prison  libraries .- 333 

Classes  of  works  taken  out  by  convicts 333 

Methods  of  distribution 333 

Books  examined  on  their  return 334 

Proportion  of  prisoners  who  take  out  books ; 335 

Time  devoted  to  reading •  335 

Secular  newspapers  not  allowed  in  most  state  prisons 235 

The  reverse  true  of  magaiines 235 

Provision  in  different  states  for  adding  to  libraries 235 

Oreat  utility  of  prison  libraries 239 

Should  contain  books  of  an  entertaining  and  cheorf ul  character 238 

Suggestion  as  to  the  examination  of  prisoners  on  the  books  read 236 

Cell  instruction  objectionable ;  schools  preferable 237 

Suggestion  in  regard  to  means  and  apparatus  for  imparting  knowledge  to 

convicts 238 

Mr.  Sanborn's  opinion 338 

Convicts  advantageously  employed  to  assist  in  teaohing 238 

Provision  made  for  reading  at  night  inadequate 238 

•      SECTION  EIGHTH. 

Physical  ard  Hvoikric  Relatiohb 239,  248 

Ventilation  of  American  prisons  generally  bad 239 

Charlestown  prison,  Albany  penitentiary,  and  some  others,  well  ventilated..  239 

Modes  of  heating 240 

Lighting  by  day  and  by  night 240 

Prison  rations  generally  abundant  and  good 240 

Dietaries  of  several  persons 240 

Place  of  taking  meals 242 

Methods  of  procuring  supplies 242 

Moral  effect  of  suitable  dietaries 243 

Prison  clothing  coarse  but  comfortable 243 

Clothing  provided  on  liberation 244 

Beds  and  bedding 244 

Condition  of  beds,  airing,  Ac 244 

Vermin  in  prisons 245 

Supply  of  water • 245 

Means  of  personal  eleanlinesi 245 


OOMTENTS.  XVll 

Pbtsical  AMI)  Htoibnic  RitATiOHS— Con/tett«d.  Pag». 

Fleth  brnih  nowhere  nied,  bnt  reeommended 246 

Waihlng  of  priionen'  olothes  and  bedding. 240 

Ameriean  priioni  generally  kept  olean  and  neat 240 

Shaving  and  balroatting 240 

ProTiiion  for  meeting  the  oalli  of  nature 247 

Diaeaiei  most  prevalent. 247 

Diiea«e  found  to  yield  moet  readily  in  reeent  oonvioti 247 

Some  tradea  punned  in  priion  prejudioial  to  health 247 

Percentage  of  eonvicte  in  hospital 247 

Malingering — diseases  of  tenest  feigned..... 247 

Diet  for  the  siok  wholly  in  the  physician's  disoretiou  243 

Disposition  made  of  insane  prisoners 243 

Long  imprisonments  injurious  to  health 248 

SECTION  NINTH. 

Prison  Inpcstrika 248,  265 

Felons  in  United  States  always  sentenced  to  "  hard  labor  " 248 

The  element  of  hard  labor  in  the  sentence  both  just  and  politic  248 

Four  systems  of  convict  labor  in  United  States 248 

1.  Working  the  convicts  on  account  of  the  state 24H 

2.  Leasing  the  prison  and  prisoners  for  so  much  a  year 248 

3.  Working  the  convicts  on  the  joint  account  of  the  state  and  the  warden,  249 

4.  Hiring  the  convicts  to  contractors  (contract  system) 249 

-     Contract  system  described 249 

Low  rates  paid  for  convict  labor  by  contractors 249 

Average  amount  of  work  done  by  convicts 249 

Contractors  furnished  with  shop  and  yard  room  gratis 249 

Average  hours  during  which  convicts  are  worked 249 

Number  of  skilled  mechanics  found  among  prisoners  surprisingly  small 249 

Mass  of  convicts  mado  up  of  laborers,  Ac,  Ac 250 

Small  proportion  who  have  learned  trades 259 

A  subject  of  regret  that  trades  are  not  more  commonly  t-augbt  in  our  prisons.  250 

A  few  prisons,  and  only  a  few,  make  this  an  object 250 

Prison  officers  unanimous  that  teaching  a  trade  would  promote  reformation  ..  251 

Reformation  cheapest  in  the  long  run 251 

"Overwork"  In  prisons • 251 

The  system  of  convict  labor,  noted  in  our  enumeration  as  third,  no  longer  any- 
where employed , 253 

The  system  noted  as  second — leasing — is  now  in  use  in  Illinois  and  Kentucky,  253 

The  system  an  extremely  objectionable  one 253 

The  system  noted  as  first — that  of  working  the  convicts  on  account  of  the 

state — not  extensively  employed 255 

This  system  highly  successful  in  the  few  prisons  where  it  is  adopted 255 

The  system  noted  as  fourth— contract  system — is  the  one  in  common  use 255 

Inquiry  into  tho  effect  of  this  system  on  the  finances  and  discipline  of  the  state 

prisons .  255 

Influence  of  the  system  dreaded  by  the  early  apostles  of  the  Auburn  discipline,  250 

How  does  the  contract  system  affect  the  pecuniary  interest  of  the  state  7 256 

That  the  state  must  be  a  loser  by  it,  a  natural  inference  from  its  essential 

character 256 

Contract  system.  In  practice,  an  absolute  monopoly 257 

Artifices  of  contractors  to  keep  down  the  price  of  eonvict  labor 257 

Large  profits  made  by  contractors 257 

This  proposition  attested  by  numerous  competent  witnesses 257 

Same  profits  might  be  realised  for  the  state  under  a  different  system 258 

Proof  of  this  proposition  two-fold 258 

[A2j 


I;i 


XViii  CONTENTS. 

Prison  IitDrsTRiBs — Continwd.  Pagi. 

1 .  Tho  teitimony  of  wUneiiei  of  nnqaestionable  oompetenoy 268 

2.  The  faett  of  ezperlenee 259 

The  argnment  thni  fnr  againtt  tho  oontrnot  aystem  rests  on  iti  cuenti*! 

nature,  the  authority  of  oompotent  Jadgoi,  and  thn  resnlti  of  osperimcnta.  260 
A  ipeoial  argument  againit  it  in  Now  Yorli  from  the  enormous  louei  the  (tato 

has  sustained  through  flotitions  damages  paid  to  contraotors 260 

Fornioious  effect  of  oontraot  system  on  discipline 261 

1.  By  placing  oonTiots,  for  the  whole  worltingday,  under  the  control 

of  men  without  official  responsibility 261 

2.  By  introducing  as  industrial  teachers  of  the  oonriots  a  yery  improper 
class  of  persons 261 

3.  By  settingup  <<  a  power  behind  the  throne  greater  than  the  throne."  261 
In  these  and  other  ways  a  most  demoralising  effect  wrought  by  the  contract 

system   262 

Contract  system  an  impediment  to  reformation 202 

Formerly  oonriots  abandoned  as  irreclaimable 262 

This  cold  and  cruel  doctrine  exploded 262 

Practicability  of  reformation  demonstrated  by  experience 262 

Reformation  practicable  only  through  suitable  agencies 263 

These  agencies  are :  1.  Religion.     2.  Education.    3.  Industry.    4.  Acquisi- 
tion of  a  trade 263 

Reformation  by  these  agencies  a  work  of  time 265 

Contract  system  opposed  to  all  except  tho  third 266 

The  whole  theory  of  our  penitentiary  system  rendered  nugatory  by  oontraot 
system  and  political  appointments. 265 

SECTION  TENTH. 

Prisox  FiNAifCBa  265,  260 

Impossibility  of  collecting  much  reliable  information  on  this  subject 265 

causes  of  this  inability 265 

Earnings  and  expenditures  of  the  Ohio  state  prison  for  ten  years 267 

Earnings  and  expenditures  of  Massachusetts  state  prison  for  twelve  years. . . .  267 

State  prison  of  Connecticut  self-supporting  for  43  years,  except  throe 268 

Financial  management  of  New  Hampshire  prison  eminently  successful 268 

Admirable  financial  results  latterly  obtained  in  Maine 268 

Wisconsin  state  prison  financially  prosperous 269 

Financial  exhibit  of  eastern  penitentiary  for  ten  years 269 

SECTION  ELEVENTH. 

Sentehces  269,  281 

The  proper  duration  of  penal  sentences  a  perplexing  question 269 

Wide  range  allowed  to  judges 269 

Immense  inequality  of  sentences  and  its  ivil  effects 270 

Testimony  of  eminent  prison  officers  on  this  subject 270 

Arerage  duration  of  state  prison  sentences  quite  different  in  different  states. .  271 
An  imprisonment  of  ten  years  breaics  down  most  prisoners,  physically  and 

mentally 272 

Moderate  sentences,  with  tho  certainty  of  serring  them  out,  preferred  by  all 

prison  officers  to  long  sentences,  with  the  Aope  of  pardon 272 

The  average  of  state  prison  sentences  quite  long  enough 273 

The  average  sentences  too  short  in  prisons  of  a  lower  grado 273 

Repeated  ehort  imprisonments  utterly  worthless,  because 274 

1.  They  demoraliie  the  prisoners 274 

2.  They  discourage  the  officers 274 

3.  They  impose  a  heavy  tax  on  the  public 274 

4.  They  iuivrpose  an  insuperable  bar  to  reformation ••• 274 


CONTENTS.  six 

VjijiTmcM— C<MiMntt#rf.  Pagt. 

Length  of  tentenoes  ihould  be  rapidly  increaisd  on  repatltion  of  minor  oifaneei  276 

Careful  revision  of  tlie  question  of  prison  lentencei  needed 275 

The  upinion  that  time  sentences  are  wrong  in  principle  and  should  be  replaced 
by  reformation  sentences,  held  by  many  wise  men  in  Europe  and  America. .  276 

'    Mr.  Commissioner  Hill's  opinion  on  this  snbjeot • 276 

The  ablest  papers  in  Great  Britain  adopt  it 276 

Mr.  Fred.  Hill's  opinion  to  the  same  effect 277 

Our  own  conviction  expressed  in  a  fictitious  address  of  Judge   to   a   con- 
victed felon  279 

Tbinliing  men  have  been  straggling    towards  this  view  through  years  of 
patient  study 280 

SECTION  TWELFTH. 

Rbformation 281-296 

Information  obtained  on  this  subject  rather  meagre 281 

Enumerntion  of  reformatory  influences  employed 282 

Statement  of  reconvictions  in  several  states 282 

Little  reliance  to  be  pli  oed  on  statistics  of  this  sort 282 

Little  testimony  obtained  as  regards  the  evidences  of  reformation,  and  that 

little  not  very  satisfactory 283 

As  respects  aiding  diioharged  convicts  not  much  reported  chat  is  encouraging.  284 
Massachusetts,  New  York,  Pennsylvania  and  California  the  only  states  where 

anything  is  done  in  this  direction  systematically 284 

Such  indifTerence  and  inaction  are  an  occasion  of  regret 287 

It  is  the  cause  of  numerous  relapses 287 

Little  effort  anywhere  made  to  trace  convicts  after  their  liberation 287 

Not  a  prison  in  America  that  makes  the  reformation  of  prisoners  its  supreme 

aim 287 

The  great  end  in  view  to  make  money 283 

Prison  oflScers  not  to  blame  for  this,  but  the  public 289 

Remarkable  inscriptions  found  by  Howard  over  the  door  and  within  an  apart- 
ment of  a  prison  in  Rome 289 

Howard's  opinion  as  to  the  importance  of  making  reformation  the  one  great 

object  of  prison  discipline 290 

The  prison  laws  of  most  of  our  states  recognise  reformation  as  the  primary 

object  of  imprisonment 291 

The  reformability  of  convicts  held  by  most  wardens  of  prisons 291 

Capt.  Maohonochie's  opinion  on  this  question ..< 291 

The  reformatory  principle  unknown  to  the  ancient  world 292 

Its  discovery  and  application  of  a  comparatively  recent  date  292 

It  rests  on  four  subordinate  principles,  vii : 

1.  That  laws  should  deal  with  crime  not  to  avenge  but  to  prevent  it  . .  292 

2.  That  vindictive  punishment  defeats  its  own  purpose  and  increases  the 

mischief  it  would  avert 292 

3.  That  disproportionate  severity  is  unnecessary  and  injurious 292 

4.  That  the  justice  of  punishment  is  measured  by  its  necessity 292 

The  reformatory  principle  has  made  remarkable  progress   292 

The  question  considered  whether  a  reformatory  discipline  can  be  male  self- 
sustaining 294 

Even  if  it  cannot,  reformation  the  most  economical 294 

Difference  between  European  and  American  prisons  in  the  payment  of  gra- 
tuities to  convicts , 295 

SECTION  THIRTEENTH. 

EXKCUTIVB  PARD0H8 296-308 

Points  of  inquiry  on  the  subject  of  pardons 206 

Not  very  successful  in  obtaining  information  and  why,..* 296 


IX  00NTBNT8. 

EXIOOTITM  Pardoni— CoiltllMMd.  Pagt. 

Proportion  of  oonrieU  und«r  differant  termi  of  impritonmont  pardonod 306 

I.  In  thoiUU  priaon  of  MManahnaatta 2U7 

1.  In  tha  aUka  priaon  of  Ohio 398 

S.  In  tlia  aUU  priaon  of  Wlaeonitn 300 

4.  In  tha  autarn  panltantlary  of  Penni/lTania SOO 

Ourioui  raiulta  yialdad  by  Ihaaa  aUtiatloa SOS 

Araraga  of  pudona  on  all  oonriota  in  Amarienn  aUta  priaona  from  1 6  to  20 

par  oant    803 

Tha  philotophy  of  thia  largo  paroantaga  of  pardoni SOS 

The  hopa  of  pardon  wall  nigh  nniraraal SOS 

Tha  affaot  of  thia  hopa  on  oonTietabad  in  many  waya 304 

Tha  pardoning  power  too  freely  ezoroiaed 804 

Annual  pardona  for  ten  yaara  in  Wiaeonain  atata  priaon.  with  Mr.  Cordiar'a 

opinion  thereupon..  305 

In  the  opinion  of  wardena,  aoma  limitatlona  ahould  be  placed  on  tha  praroga- 

tira  of  pardon SOS 

A  power  of  pardon  neoeuary  and  wiae 300 

Ita  too  frequent  ezeroiae  objectionable,  becauie — 

1.  It  nulliflea  the  certainty  of  puniahment 807 

'  3.  It  inoreaiea  the  hope  of  pardon,  already  too  atrong  in  oonriota  ....  307 

8.  It  impadei  the  reformation  of  priaonera  307 

All  diffloulty  in  the  matter  of  pardons  would  be  obTiated  by  adopting  the 
principle  of  reformation  aentenoea  308 

SECTION  FOURTEENTH. 

Crimixal  Statistics S08-313 

The  aoienco  of  atatiatica  aa  relating  to  crime  and  orlminal  Juitioe  too  much 

neglected  in  U.  8 .* 308 

Oraat  importance  of  thia  science 308 

Statiit!aa  indiapeniablo  to  enable  ua  to  Judge  of  the  operation  of  any  law  or 

aystem 308 

Must  be  gathered  from  a  wide  field  and  during  a  long  period,  to  be  of  any 

value 308 

Illuatrstion  of  this  neceasity 309 

Generalisation  unsafe  from  facts  gathered  fkrom  narrow  distriuts  and  ooaflned 

to  brief  periods 310 

Statistics  of  prisons  full,  uniform  and  collected  with  regularity,  needed 310 

Such  statistics  should  be  gathered  from  the  whole  country 311 

A  national  prison  bureau  necessary  for  this .  311 

Such  a  bureau  would  be  true  economy    311 

Would  afTurd  essential  and  eiTective  aid  in  the  battle  against  crime 311 

SECTION    FIFTEENTH. 

MiscELLAKRODs  Itbms 312-313 

Comparative  cost  of  conveying  prisoners  to  state  prisons  in  Mass.  and  N.  Yorlc.  312 

Massachusetts  plan  recommended 312 

Effect  of  the  late  war  on  male  and  female  crime 312 

Administration  of  criminal  Justice  reported  as  tardy  in  most  of  the  states....  313 

Proportion  of  convicts  under  thirty 313 

Percentage  of  foreign  convicts 313 

Reasons  assigned  by  convicts  for  their  relapses 313 

CHAPTER  II. 

County  Jails 314-336 

Little  improvement  made  in  these  sinee  the  visits  of  the  European  commis- 
sions, more  than  thirty  years  ago 314 


p»gt. 

3«S 

3U7 

308 

380 

......  >00 

302 

to  20 

803 

, 803 

803 

304 

304 

rdi«r'« 

306 

iroga- 

305 

300 


308 

Uw  or 

308 

»f  »U7 

308 

f  ••  • 

309 

nflned 

310 

310 

311 

■  •  •  •  • 

311 

■  •  •  •  ■  • 

311 

311 

.  312 

-313 

York. 

312 



312 

312 

» . . .  • 

313 

« •  •  •  t 

313 



313 

•  ■  •  •  • 

313 

OONTEMTS.  XXl 

CovHTT  JkiLU—ConHitu»d.  Pag$. 

6t»t*ment  of  »  New  Jerity  lawyer,  roUtlre  to  the  Jfttli  of  that  itate 314 

SUtement  of  Mr.  Mendenhall,  conoerning  the  Jaili  In  Ohio 315 

Stiitement  of  Mr.  Mnllen  and  the  Philadelphia  Priion  Society,  on  the  Jaili  of 

ronniyWanla 31 A 

Tl    jail  at  Chicago,  ininoU 317 

TheJalliatSt.  I    uU  and  Jefferion  City,  Mlitonri 318 

The  Jail  at  IndlanapolU,  Indiana 320 

The  Jail  at  Loalirllle,  Kentuoky 330 

The  Jail  lyitem  in  Kontaoky 330 

The  Jail  at  Cincinnati,  Ohio 331 

Condition  of  thejalli  in  New  York 821 

The  Jails  of  Illinoii,  ai  doioribed  by  iheriff  Wm.  P.  Orafton 331 

The  Jaili  of  Maryland,  ai  deioribed  by  warden  Thot ,  0.  Jamei 323 

The  Jail  lystem  of  Maiiaohaietti,  as  deioribed  by  lecretary  Sanborn 33S 

The  Jail  lyitem  of  Oonneoticat 330 

An  act  in  Connecticut  to  take  the  Jaili  out  of  the  custody  of  iheriffs 330 

The  principle  of  thii  act  incorporated  into  the  legiilation  of  New  Jeney  ....  831 

Philadelphia  Priion  Society  In  favor  of  Its  adoption  for  Pennsylvania 331 

Tenure  of  office  of  Jail -keeperi  ihould  be  permanent 331 

Another  Howard  needed  to  explore  the  Jaili   of  our  country,  and  a  new 

«  State  of  Prifoni "  to  bring  theie  abuiei  to  light 832 

«< Legion"  ii  thenaae  of  thereformi  needed  here 333 

The  lystem  must  be  replaced  by  a  better 333 

What  shall  it  beT 333 

1.  Prisoners  must  not  be  made  worse  in  Jail 833 

3.  Jails  must  be  made  simply  houses  of  detention 334 

3.  Separate  imprisonment  must  be  enforced  in  them 334 

4.  Religious  instruction  mast  be  imparted  to  all,  and  secular  to  those 

who  need  It 335 

5.  A  central  authority  muit  be  created,  to  regulate  and  luperviie  the 

whole  system 335 

CHAPTER  III. 

Prisons  intbrhidiatb  betwkbn  thb  Jail  and  tbb  State  Prison 337-352 

Massachnietts  the  only  state  that  has  a  ooiLplote  system  of  such  prisons 337 

Some  other  states  have  a  few 337 

Board  of  prison  inspectors  in  Canada  urging  their  establishment ....  3-^7 

The  system  of  houses  of  correction  in  Massachusetts,  as  described  by  Mr.  San- 
born       338 

Detroit  house  of  correction,  a  model  of  its  olasi 339 

Notice  of  its  superintendent,  Mr.  Z.  R.  Brookway 339 

Description  of  this  prison,  by  Mr.  Brookway. 340 

The  bridewell  at  Chicago,  Illinois 344 

City  workhouse  at  St.  Louis,  Missouri , 346 

City  workhouse  at  Louisville,  Kentucky 349 

City  prison  at  Cincinnati,  Ohio 349 

Male  and  female  departments  of  same  in  sharp  contrast  with  each  other 350 

Wretched  condition  of  the  male  department 350 

Female  department  admirably  managed 350 

The  county  penitentiaries  of  New  York  the  be<t  penal  institutions  in  the 

state .351 

Importance  of  this  class  of  prisons  to  complcfte  an  adequate  prison  system ....  352 


XiOi 


CX)NTXNT& 


CHAPTER  IV. 

Paf- 
Jtbnili  RiroRMATOiiM 86S-80S 

BnumentioD  of  inttltatioM  of  thit  oImi  viiiUd SftS 

Fourtten  psperi  roeeived,  ooDUining  autwori  to  our  Interrogatorlu 8M 

Th«i*  prinUd  In  full  In  tbaapptndiz ,  858 

The  Juvtnll*  raformatorlei  tha  bait  orgknlied  and  bait  aonduotad  of  our  ln< 

ititutioni  looking  to  the  prarentlon  of  orima SM 

Ma<<Mobttietti  baari  tba  palm,  and  of  bar  raformatorlai  tha  Stata  Indutrlal 

School  for  Girli  itandi  prefimlnant 854 

Nautioal  reform  iohool  of  Maiiaobuiatti  oonduotad  in  two  ihip* 8AS 

The  oharaotar,  ipaolal  object,  and  gratlfjing  lucoaH  of  tba  aobool-thipa 855 

New  York  neodi  a  (imilar  initltution 800 

Iti  importance  to  the  eultivation  of  laaraenibip 800 

Lieut.  Commander  Luce's  opinion  on  thii  i ubjeot 801 

Opinion  of  Oen.  B.  L.  Holineaui 803 

New  York  ihauld  at  once  organiie  a  loucol-ihip,  and  add  to  tba  nnmber  ak 

ocoaiion  require! 8C1 

Reformatories  tbould  be  greatly  inereaied  in  number Zfi 

The  family  principle  preferred • ^08 

Parent!  ibould  be  compelled  by  law  to  contribute  to  tho  lupport  of  their 

children  in  theie  initltutiona 808 


-A-ppendix. 


I.  RiPLiBs  or  ix-OoTiRRORS  ON  THi  Pabdoniro  PoWlR 806-887 

Question  I 805 

Answer  by  Chief  Justice  Chase,  of  Ohio 806 

do       Hon.  Wm.  W.  Ellsworth,  of  Connecticut 800 

do       Hon.  A.  H.  Holley,  of  Connecticut 300 

do       Hon.  Israel  Watthbume,  of  Maine < 800 

do       Hon.  Samuel  Wells,  of  Maine 800 

do        Hon.  W.  L.  Oreenly,  of  Michigan 807 

do       Hon.  John  A.  King,  of  New  York 807 

do       Hon.  Wm.  F.  Johnson,  of  Pennsylrania 807 

Question  II 808 

Answer  by  Chief  Justice  Chase 808 

do       Hon.  A.  H.  Holley 309 

do       Hon.  Israel  Washbume 309 

do       Hon.  Samuel  Wells 309 

do       Hon.  W.  S.  Qreenly 809 

do        Hon.  John  A.  King. 870 

do        Hon.  Wm.  F.  Johnson  870 

Question  III 870 

Answer  by  Chief  Justice  Chase 870 

do       Hon.  A.  H.  Holley 871 

do       Hon.  Israel  WMhbume 871 


I>af«. 
...  I68-S08 

, S68 

>»S 

86S 

our  ln> 

SM 

idutritl 

854 

855 

Ipt 855 

880 

800 

8«1 

802 

imber  m 

8C1 

Vi 

408 

i  of  their 
SOS 


,,..  806-887 

800 

805 

800 

800 

800 

800 

807 

807 

807 

808 

808 

809 

809 

309 

809 

870 

870 

870 

870 

371 

871 


CONTENTS.  XXnt 

Baruii  or  ■x^Oomiioiii  ok  tbs  Parooiiiii*  Powi»— C«tiliiHM4l.  Pagt. 

ADiwtr  by  Hon.  W.  L.  Qroonly H71 

do       Don.  John  A.  King 371 

do       Uon.  Wm.  F.  Jubnaon STt 

Qnaition  IV 371 

Aniwer  by  OhUf  JniUe«  Chaie 871 

do        Hon.  A.  U.  Hulley 871 

do        Hon.  Iirafll  Waabburne 873 

do        Hon.  fiaiiiiisl  Walli 871 

do        Hon.  W.  L.  (>  "enly 878 

do       Hon.  John  A.  king mt 87S 

do       Uon.  W.  F.  Jobnion  ■ 87S 

Question  V 378 

Aniwer  by  Chief  Justice  Chue 874 

do       Hon.  Wm.  W.  Ellsworth 874 

do        Uon.  A.  H.  Uolley 374 

do       Hon.  Israel  Washburn 874 

do        Hon.  Samuel  Weill 874 

do       Hon.  W.  L.  Oreenly 375 

do        Hon.  John  A.  King 875 

do       Hon.  Wm.  F.  Johnson • 375 

Question  VI 375 

Answer  by  Chief  Justice  Chase 870 

do        Uon.  A.  H.  Uolley 370 

do       Hon.  Israel  Washburn 370 

do       Hon.  Samuel  Weill 870 

do        Uon.  W.  L.  Oreenly 370 

do       Hon.  John  A.  King 370 

do       Hon.  Wm.  F.  Johnson 376 

Question  VII 378 

Answer  by  Chief  Justice  Chase 378 

do        Hon.  A.  H.  Uolley 379 

do       Hon.  Israel  Washburn 378 

do        Hon.  Samuel  Wells 37g 

,  do        Uon.  W.  L.  Oreenly 373 

do        Hon.  John  A.  King 373 

do       Uon.  Wm.  F.  Johnson 878 

Oeneral  answer  by  Hon.  Washington  Hunt 379 

do  Hon.  E.  T.  Throop 3gO 

do  Hon.  Wm.  F.  Packer  .  334 

do  Bon.  Henry  Dutton 334 

do  Hon.  Isaac  Toucey sgj^ 

do  Hon.  Elisha  Dyer , 335 

do  Hon.  H.  B.  Anthony 335 

II.  LiTTiR  FROM  Hon.  0.  MmroiNHALL  oh  Prison  Disciplimr  in  Ohio 388-392 

Importance  of  the  subject 333 

Little  progress  made 333 

Necessity  for  competent  ofBcers  and  christian  influences 333 

Prison  system  of  Ohio  described 333 

Nm  central  authority ;  importance  of  inch  an  agency. 339 

Juvenile  reformatories  too  few 339 

Promisouous  association  in  jails  and  its  evils 390 

Radical  reform  needed — separate  system  preferred 390 

Everything  degrading  to  manhood  should  be  discarded,  including  parti- 
colored dress  390 

Badges  of  good  conduct  advocated 390 

Uen  i»  prison  much  the  same  as  menou/«uf<.... ,. 391 


I 


XXIV  CONTENTS. 

Lgttbb  on  Prison  Discipline— Continued.  Page. 

Christianity  the  great  power  in  reforming  criminals 391 

Central  board  needed  to  secure  good  oflBcers 391 

The  principle  of  reward  should  be  extended 391 

Influence  of  the  contract  system  deleterious 391 

Revision  of  penal  code  neceisary 392 

Life  sentences  should  be  abolished,  so  that  all  may  feel  the  inspiring  influence 
of  hope 302 

III.  Tbree  Lbttbrs  rROH  Mrs.  Sarah  Peter  oh  the  Female  Citt  Prison  of 
Cincinnati 303-398 

Idea  on  which  it  is  founded  borrowed  from  foreign  lands 393 

Labors  of  the  Sisters  of  the  Good  Shepherd  among  female  conricts 393 

Services  of  these  sisters  much  employed  and  very  successful  in  this  depart- 
ment   393 

Always  observant  of  the  laws  and  usages  of  the  locality 393 

No  change  made,  in  this  respect,  in  Cincinnati 304 

The  most  stubborn  yield  to  their  firm  but  gentle  rule 394 

Their  only  punishment  solitary  confinement  in  a  small  bat  comfortable  room. .  394 

Trades  introduced  into  female  prisons  in  Europe  under  the  sisterhood 394 

Efforts  of  Mrs.  Peter  to  havo  this  system  introduced  into  city  prison  of  Cin- 
cinnati    394 

Discouragements  and  ultimate  success 395 

Change  wrought  in  three  years 395 

Stipend  of  the  sisters  $100  each  a  year 395 

Prison  open  to  religious  instruction  of  all  denominations 396 

The  religious  principle  lies  at  the  bottom  of  the  whole  work 306 

The  system  tested  by  its  fruits 396 

A  wise  and  efficient  administration  all-important 397 

The  confidence  of  prisoners  must  be  won 398 

Rewards  attendant  on  good  behavior ' 398 

Purified  affections  the  groat  source  of  power  over  criminals 398 

IV.  Jdvenile  Reformatories 300-457 

Names  of  gentlemen  responding  to  our  interrogatories,  and  of  the  institutions 

for  which  they  respond 309' 

Dates  at  which  the  several  institutions  were  established 399 

By  what  authority  and  with  what  funds  founded 400 

Whence  the  funds  for  their  support  obtained 400 

Extent  of  grounds  belonging  to  them 401 

Their  buildings,  arrangements  and  uses 402 

Number  of  inmates  which  each  can  accommodato 406 

Total  cost  of  «.ach 407 

Government  of  the  several  institutions 408 

Powers  and  duties  of  the  governing  board 400 

Officers  composing  the  staff  of  each 410 

Whether  both  sexes  are  received 411 

Between  what  ages  children  are  admissible 411 

For  what  causes  committed 412 

By  what  authority  committed - 412 

Whether  committed  for  specified  time,  or  indefinitely 413 

When  tho  right  of  guardianship  expires 414 

GovcrniDg  board  clothed  with  the  right  to  discharge 414 

Modes  of  release 414 

Whether  the  institution  is  to  bo  regarded  as  a  prison  or  a  school 415 

Cbarncter  of  the  discipline 415 

Rules  and  regulations.. 410 

Proceedings  of  a  day... .   416 

Proceedings  of  a  Sabbath , 421 


CONTENTS. 


XXV 


Page, 

301 

391 

391 

391 

392 

iflaence 
392 

SON  OF 

....393-398 

393 

393 

iepart- 

393 

393 

394 

394 

room..  394 
..*.....  394 
of  Cin- 

394 

395 

395 

395 

896 

, 396 

396 

397 

398 

398 

398 

..390-157 
itntiona 
....  399- 
....  399 
....  400 
...  400 
....  401 
....  402 
....  406 
....  407 
....  408 
....  409 
....  410 
....  411 

411 

412 

412 

413 

414 

414 

414 

415 

415 

416 

416 

421 


JuvBKiLE  Refobkatobies — Contitiutd. 

Writ  of  habeas  corpus  availablo  in  behalf  of  tho  children  committed,  bnt  sel- 
dom aged 423 

How  far  the  children  sleep  in  separate  rooma  or  common  dormitories 424 

How  far  they  may  communicate,  and  how  far  tho  law  of  silence  is  enforced  . .  425 

Time  spent  in  school 426 

Branches  pursued 426 

Progress  mado 427 

Nurabor  of  volumes  in  library,  Ac 427 

How  far  a  fondness  for  reading  is  shown 428 

Whether  a  trade  is  taught 429 

Occupations  carried  on  in  each 429 

Whether  the  labor  of  the  children  is  let  to  contractors 430 

Chaplains 431 

How  far  the  heart  is  cultivated,  &j2 4.12 

Importance  attached  to  the  inculcation  of  religious  and  moral  truth 433 

Counsels  given  on  reception 433 

Classification  and  its  details 434 

Antecedents  of  the  children — bow  far  recorded 435 

How  fur  thoir  history  is  recorded  while  inmates 438 

Huw  far  a  knowledge  of  them  is  kept  up  after  thoir  discharge  or  indenture..  439 

Proportion  of  the  reformed 440 

Proportion  of  orphans 441 

do  half -orphans    411 

dor      who  have  idle  or  vicious  parents 442 

Recreations  of  the  children 442 

Supervision  while  at  play 443 

M'hether  officers  in  charge  take  part  in  their  games 443 

The  dietaries 443 

Whether  tho  children  are  allowed  food  or  luxuries  beyond  what  the  institu- 
tion provides 415 

Attention  given  to  cleanliness 446 

Health  of  tho  inmates 447 

Percentage  on  sick  list 447 

Annual  percentage  of  deaths 447 

''• '  Diseases  most  prevalent 443 

''■-■•       How  often  tho  physicians  attend 448 

'     '      Hospital  accommodations 449 

Aggregate  annual  earnings 449 

''   '        Aggregate  annual  expenses 4£0 

Average  annual  cost  of  each  inmate 451 

■     '      Average  time  of  retention 451 

Average  age  at  reception 452 

Average  ago  at  discharge 452 

Punishments  employed 453 

Rewards  for  good  conduct 454 

Whether  customary  to  present  a  Bible  to  each  ininato  on  leaving 454 

-■''  Whether  the  gift  is  accompanied  with  suitable  counsels 455 

V  Class  of  boys  and  girls  most  diJScult  to  reform 456 

"   •         Whether  right  of  guardianship  is  reserved  nftcr  indenture 45^ 

■■  •         Whether  nu  indentured  youth  leaving  his  master  can  bo  brought  back 456 

Whether  a  like  power  exists  as  to  those  who  have  gone  out  in  other  ways....  466 

V.  Administration  op  Criminal  Justice 458-547 

-    ..       Question  I.  What  is  the  judicial  system  of  your  state? 458 

■'  Answers  by  Geo.  W.  Scarlo  and  others,  (see  names  of  gentlemen  responding, 

;H       ,        on  page  304) 45S 

;i  Question  II.  Are  judges  appointed  or  elected? * 468 


XXVI 


CONTENTS. 


Advivistration  of  Criminal  Justice — Continued.  Page. 

Answer!  by  Bame  gentlemen 486 

Question  III.  Punnisbments  annoxed  to  different  orimes  1 468 

Answers 469 

Question  IV.  Is  tbere  a  wide  diversity  in  the  pauisbments  awarded  to  the 

same  crime? *. 402 

Answers 493 

Question  V.  Are  sheriffs  appointed  or  elected  7 495 

Answers 496 

Question  VI.  How  many  justices  in  each  township,  kc.1 ■ 497 

Answers 497 

Question  VII.  What  proportion  of  the  indicted  are  brought  to  trial? 498 

Answers 499 

Question  VIII.  What  proportion  of  the  tried  are  convicted? 501 

Answers 501 

Question  IX.  What  proportion  of  the  arraigned  plead  guilty  ? 503 

Answers 5U3 

Question  X.  Whether  the  plea  is  to  the  offence  charged  or  a  lower  offence  of 

the  same  kind? 504 

Answers 504 

Question  XI.  Of  persons  charged  with  homicide,  what  proportion  conriotod? 

'  what  executed  ? 506 

Answers 506 

Question  XII.  Is  the  disproportion  between  the  arrested  and  convicted  greatest 

in  crimes  of  a  higher  or  lower  grade  7 508 

Answers 508 

Question  XIII.  Average  length  of  imprisonment,  prior  to  trial? 509 

Answers 509 

Question  XIV.  Whether  the  moral  effect  of  conviction  is  impaired  by  its  long 

delay? 510 

Answers....' 510 

Question  XV.  Causes  of  such  delays,  if  they  exist? 512 

Answers 512 

Question  XVI.  Whether  there  is  often  a  failure  to  convict  in  high  crimes?. . .  513 

Answers 514 

Question  XVII.  The  effect  of  such  failure? 515 

Answers 515 

Question  XVIII.  Are  prosecuting  attorneys  appointed  or  elected? 516 

Answers 516 

Question  XIX.  Is  their  compensation  by  salaries  or  fees  7 518 

Answers 518 

Question  XX.  Effect  upon  their  fidelity,  if  compensation  is  by  salaries? 519 

Answers 519 

Question  XXI.  How  far  is  bail  money  collected 7 520 

Answers 520 

Question  XXII.  How  as  to  justices' fines? 521 

Answers 521 

Question  XXIII.  Disposition  made  of  moneys  collected  in  this  way? 523 

Answers 523 

Question  XXIV.  How  as  to  corruption  among  police  officers? 524 

Answers 524 

Question  XXV.  Whether  witnesses  are  confined  with  criminals,  and  whether 

they  are  compensated  for  loss  of  time  7 526 

Answers.   526 

Question  XXVI.  Whether  the  death  pcnulty  hat  been  abolished;  if  so,  its 

effect  on  crime? 628 

Answers 528 


CONTENTS.  XXvii 

Admimibtration  of  CniuiN al  Jvarici— Continued.  Pag$. 

Question  XXVII.  Whether  indictments  have  been  abolished;  If  lo,  what  is 

the  substitute,  and  what  the  effect  of  the  change  7 532 

Answers  532 

Question  XXVIII.    How  as  to  instructions  given  by  judges  when  it  is  a  ques- 
tion of  insanity? 534 

Answers 634 

Question  XXIX.  Effect  of  the  exercise  of  the  pardoning  power,  Ac.  ? 538 

Answers    538 

Question  XXX.  Whether  life-men  are  more  frequently  pardoned  than  others?  539 

Answers 639 

Question  XXXI.  Whether  there  is  a  system  of  criminal  statistics? 541 

Answers 641 

Question  XXXII.  Whether  a  code  of  criminal  procedure  has  been  established?  542 

Answers 542 

Question  XXXIII.  Defects  existing  and  improrements  needed? 543 

Answers    543 


REPORT. 


Introduction. 

It  was  under  a  deep  feeling  of  responsibility  that  the  under- 
signed, ccunmissioncrs  of  the  Prison  Association  of  New  York, 
undertook  the  duty  assigned  them;  and  it  is  under  a  no  less 
solemn  sense  of  responsibility  that  they  now  enter  upon  the  task 
of  erftbod^'ing,  in  a  report  to  be  submitted  to  the  Legislature  of 
the  State,  the  results  of  their  observations  and  inquiries.  Our 
instructions  were,  to  visit  and  inspect  the  penal  and  correctional 
institutions  of  the  states  of  our  Union;  to  examine  their  prison 
systems;  and  to  inquire  into  their  administration  of  criminal  jus- 
tice. To  facilitate  the  objects  of  our  mission,  in  addition  to  the 
commission  received  from  the  President  of  the  Association,  we 
we  were  furnished  with  a  circular  letter  from  Gov.  Fenton  to  the 
governors  of  the  several  states;  and  for  the  aid  thus  rendered — 
for  such  we  found  it — our  thanks  are  due  and  cordially  given  to 
his  Excellency. 

It  will  be  proper  here  to  state  the  occasion  of  our  appointment. 
Among  its  other  functions,  the  Prison  ^^.ssocatiou  of  New  York  is 
charged  by  law  with  the  duty  of  seeking  to  improve  the  govern- 
ment and  discipline  of  our  prisons.  To  this  end,  it  is  charged  with 
the  further  duty  of  annually  visiting,  inspecting  and  examining 
these  institutions,  and  reporting  their  state  and  condition  to  the 
Legislature.  In  obedience  to  this  injunction  of  law,  all  the 
prisons  of  the  State  have  been  repeatedly  visited  and  reported  on. 
The  result  of  these  examinations  has  been  a  conviction  that  our 
whole  prison  system  needs  careful  and  judicious  revision.  Under 
this  conviction,  a  conuuittee  was  appointed  by  the  Association  to 
consider  the  present  organization  of  our  prisons  and  to  report  a 
plan  for  their  re  organizatiou;  thiit  is,  to  prepare  a  comprehensive 
scheme  for  an  improved  prison  system.  It  was  at  the  instance  of 
this  committee,  and  because  they  desired  the  best  lights  attainable 

[Assera.  No.  35. J  1 


2 


PRISONS  AND  REFORMATORIES  OF  THE 


to  giiido  them  in  their  work,  thnt  the  present  commission  was 
ordained,  and  the  undersigned  designated  to  compose  it.  By  the 
terms  of  our  appointment,  there  was  no  restriction  to  the  field  of 
our  inquiries,  other  than  the  territorial  linu'ts  of  the  United  States. 
There  was,  indeed,  a  practical  limitation,  resulting  as  well  from 
considerations  of  time  and  expense,  as  from  a  prudent  discretion. 
No  state  beyond  the  Mississippi,  except  Missouri,  was  visited,  and 
none  of  those  lately  in  rebellion.  But  while  the  commissioners 
did  not  exhaust  their  full  powers  within  the  United  States,  they 
overstepped  the  letter  of  their  authority  by  extending  their  inqui- 
ries to  the  prison  system  and  some  of  the  prisons  of  the  neighbor- 
ing province  of  Canada. 

The  states  actually  visited  by  the  commissioners  were: 
Connecticut,  Delaware,  Illinois,  Indiana,  Kentucky,  Maine,  Mar}'- 
land,  Massachusetts,  Michigan,  Missouri,  New  Hampshire,  New 
Jersey,  Ob'o,  Pennsylvania,  Rhode  Island,  Vermont,  West 
Virginia,  and  Wisconsin.  Of  these  eighteen  states,  two,  Delaware 
and  West  Virginia,  have  no  state  prisons,  but  confine  their  crimi- 
nals, convicted  of  state  prison  offences,  the  former  in  the  jail  at 
New  Castle,  and  the  latter  in  that  of  the  city  of  Wheeling.  Of 
the  remaining  sixteen,  two,  Pennsylvania  and  Indiana,  have  each 
two  state  prisons;  the  rest  each  one.  Five  of  the  above  states, 
Delaware,  Indiana,  New  Jersey,  Vermont,  and  West  Vivgim'a,  had 
no  reformatories  at  the  time  of  our  visit;  but  Vermont  has  since 
established  one,.  New  Jersey  is  about  to  do  likewise,  and  Delaware 
is  making  efforts  in  the  simie  direction.  Of  the  other  thirteen 
states  visited,  all  have  at  least  one  reform  school,  Ohio  has  two, 
Pennsylvania  three,  and  Massachusetts  three.  We  inspected, 
more  or  less  thoroughly,  all  the  state  prisons  in  the  states  visited, 
almost  all  the  correctional  institutions,  and  as  many  of  the  com- 
mon jails,  muiucipal  prisons,  workhouses,  and  houses  of  correction, 
as  our  time  would  permit.  Of  course,  it  was  not  possible  to  make 
an  exhaustive  personal  examination  of  so  large  a  number  of  prisons. 
Years,  instead  of  mouths,  would  have  been  required  for  such  a 
labor.  Therefore,  to  supplement  our  personal  observations,  we 
prepared  five  distinct  series  of  interrogatories  on  as  many  difler- 
ent  branches  of  the  general  inquiry  with  which  we  were  charged, 
viz :  I.  State  Prisons.  II.  County  Jails.  III.  Houses  of  Correc- 
tion. IV.  Juvenile  Reformatories.  V.  The  Administration  of 
Criminal  Justice.    These  interrogatories  were  drawn  up  with  care, 


''V 


UNITED  STATES  AND  CANADA. 


8 


and  were  as  exhaustive  of  the  subjects  to  which  they  relate  as  wo 
could  make  them. 

As  iu  none  of  the  states  is  there  any  central  authority,  having 
charge  of  the  county  jails,  and  in  none,  except  Mtissachusetts,  any 
t'cneral  system  of  houses  of  correction,  or  other  prisons  interme- 
diate between  the  state  prison  and  the  common  jail,  but  little  use 
could  be  made  of  the  questions  relating  to  these  two  classes  of 
prisons.  The  other  series  were  committed  to  prison  officers  and 
other  competent  persons  in  the  several  states  visited.  No  replies 
have  been  received  in  regard  to  state  prisons  from  Delaware, 
Illinois,  Maryland,  New  Jersey,  West  Virginia,  the  Eastern  peni- 
tentiary. Pa.,  or  that  of  southern  Indiana.  From  fourteen  prisons 
of  this  class,  replies  have  been  obtained,  most  of  which  are  full 
and  satisfactory,  and  must  have  cost  their  authors  no  little  time 
and  labor  in  their  preparation.  Answers  have  also  been  received, 
prepared  \vith  much  care,  from  fourteen  reformatories.  Gentle- 
men of  high  legal  ability  and  standing,  in  nine  states,  have 
responded  to  our  interrogatories  on  the  administration  of  criminal 
justice,  sending  us  papers  of  very  great  value  thereupon.  A  few 
answers  have  likewise  been  received  relating  to  county  jails  and 
houses  of  correction,  and  a  considerable  number  of  private  letters, 
from  ladies  as  well  as  gentlemen,  conveying  valuable  information 
and  oifering  no  less  valuable  suggestions  touching  the  matters,  iu 
which  all  the  friends  of  prison  reform  feel  so  deep  an  interest. 
To  all  who  have  thus  aided  us,  at  the  cost  of  so  much  time  and 
toil,  we  tender  our  heartfelt  thanks,  trusting  that  they  will  find 
their  reward  in  the  consciousness  of  having  helped  forward  a  work 
which  will  not  prove  wholly  fruitless  of  influences  favorable  to 
the  progress  of  a  just  and  enlightened  prison  discipline. 

In  all  the  states  visited,  the  commissioners  sought  opportunity 
to  converse  with  governors,  judges,  attorneys  general,  and  private 
citizens  of  eminence,  on  the  matters  to  which  their  mission 
related.  Everywhere  we  were  warmly  welcomed.  Everywhere 
a  lively  interest  was  expressed  in  our  object.  Everywhere  the 
present  labor  was  regarded  as  having  a  national  scope  and  import- 
ance. All  this  was  gratifying  to  the  commissioners,  as  indicating 
that  the  investigation  in  which  we  were  engaged  had  become  a 
felt  want  of  the  country,  and  that  it  promises  results  not  confined 
to  the  state  in  which  it  originated,  though  she  claims  to  be  an 
"empire"  in  herself,  but  extending  far  beyond  her  boundaries, 


Ml. 


4  PRISONS  AND  REF0RMRT0RIE8  OF  THE 

fliiil  indeed  ombrncing  the  tcrritcritil  limits  of  the  whole  United 
States. 

We  deem  it  proper,  at  this  point,  to  indicate,  somewhat  more  in 
detail,  tiie  sources,  beyond  the  notes  and  memoranda  of  our  per- 
sonal o1)scrvations,  from  which  wo  have  drawn  the  matter  of  the 
ensuing  report. 

I.  Printed  DocuMENTg. 

Of  those  we  collected  a  very  large  number,  which,  having  been 
bound,  form  the  following  volumes: 

Vols.  I.-IV. 

Documents  published  by  the  legislature  of  Connecticut  during 
the  years  18C2,  1863,  1864,  and  1865,  containing,  among  others, 
the  Annual  Reports  of  the  State  Prison  at  Weathersfield  for  those 
years. 

Vol,   V. 

Annual  Reports  of  the  State  Reform  School  of  Connecticut  for 
the  years  1853  and  1854,  and  also  for  those  of  1856-1865,  inclu- 
sive. These  Reports  include  the  Act  establishing  the  State 
Reform  School,  the  Rules  and  Regulations  for  the  government  of 
the  same,  the  Laws  relating  to  the  school,  and  the  form  of  an 
indenture  adopted  by  the  trustees. 

Vol.  VI. 
Annual  Reports  of  the  Board  of  Inspectors  on  the  Canada 
Prisons,  Reformatories,  &c.,  for  the  years  1860,  1861,  and  1862. 

Vol.  VII. 

1.  Preliminary  Report  of  the  Board  of  Inspectors  of  the 
Prisons,  &c.,  of  Canada  (which  should  have  been  bound  with  the 
documents  in  the  preceding  Vol). 

2.  The  Annual  Reports  on  the  same  for  1863  and  1864. 

3.  Rules  and  Regulations  for  Common  Jails. 

4.  Rules  and  Regulations  for  the  Provincial  Penitentiary. 

5.  A  Glance  at  the  Present  State  of  the  Common  Jails  of 
Canada.     By  E.  A.  Meredith,  LL.  D.  ^ 


Vol.  VIIL 

1.  Biennial  Report  on  the  Illinois  State  Penitentiary  for  thp 
years  1857  and  1858,  said  report  containing  "Guards'  Duty"  ian,d 
Rules  and  Regulations  for  the  Government  of  the  Illinois  State 
Penitentiary. 


•N, 


UNITED  STATES  AND  CANADA.  0 

2.  Report  cf  the  Superintendent  of  the  Illinois  State  Penitcu- 
tiary  for  1858. 

3.  Annual  Reports  of  iho  Commissioners  to  locate  and  build  an 
additional  Penitentiary  for  the  years  1857  and  1858  (1  t  and 
Second). 

4.  Annual  Reports  on  the  Illinois  State  Penitentiary  by  the 
Commissioners,  for  the  years  1850  and  1860  (Third  and  Fourth). 

5.  Biennial  Report  of  the  Warden  of  the  Illinois  State  Peniten- 
tiary for  the  years  1859  and  18G0,  including  the  Reports  of  the 
Chaplain  and  Physician. 

(5.  Annual  Rop(n'ts  on  the  Illinois  State  Penitentiary,  by  the 
Commissioners,  for  the  years  1861  and  1862  (Fifth  and  Sixth), 
including  Chaplain's  luul  Physician's  Reports. 

7.  Annual  Reports  on  the  Illinois  State  Penitentiary,  by  the 
Commissioners,  for  the  years  1863  and  1864  (Seventh  and  Eighth), 
including  Chiiplain's  and  Physician's  Reports. 

8.  Copy  of  the  Commutation  Law  of  Illinois,  approved  Feb. 
20,  1863. 

9.  Messages  of  Governor  Yates  to  the  Legislatures  of  1863  and 

1864,  containing  sections  devoted  to  the  State  Penitentiary. 

Vol  IX. 

1.  Annual  Reports  of  the  Chicago  Reform  School,  from  1859  to 

1865,  inclusive. 

2.  Appendix  to  Fourth  Report,  under  the  title  of  A  Considera- 
tion of  the  Cause  and  Cure  of  Juvenile  Crime,  pp.  41-58. 

3.  Amendments  to  the  law  establishing  the  Chicago  Reform 
School,  approved  February  13,  1863,  appended  to  Ninth  Report, 
pp.  41-46. 

Vol  X. 

1.  Fifth  Annual  Report  of  the  Board  of  Control  of  the  North, 
ern  Indiana  State  Prison  for  the  year  1864. 

2.  Eighteenth  Annual  Report  of  the  Officers  of  the  Southern 
Indiana  State  Prison  for  the  year  1864. 

3.  Laws,  Rules  and  General  Regulations  for  the  Government 
of  the  Indiana  State  Prison  at  Jeffersonville. 

Vol  XL 
1.  A  Report  on  the  History  and  Management  of  the  Kentucky 

ufeSV*^  origin,  in  1798,  to  March  1,  1860.   By  Wm. 

C.  Sneed.^.TDr.pbhe  of  the  Surgeons  to  the  Kentucky  Peniten- 
tiary.   [To  this  volume  are  appended] 


6 


PRISONS  AND  REFORMATORIES  OF  THE 


2.  Report  of  the  Keeper  uiid  Lessee  of  the  Kentucky  Peniten- 
tiary for  1804. 

3.  Ditto  for  1866. 

Vol  XIL 

1.  Koport  on  tlie  Maine  Slute  Prison  for  1854,  to  whicli  is  np- 
pcniled  a  Report  of  a  Committee  of  the  Council  appointed  by  the 
Governor  to  visit  the  State  Prisons  of  New  England. 

2.  Report  on  the  Maine  State  Prison  for  1803. 
8.  do  do  do        1804. 

4.  do  do  do         1865. 

5.  Rules  to  be  observed  l)y  the  Convicts  of  the  Maine  State 
Prison. 

6.  Report  on  the  System  of  Disbursements,  Labor  and  Disci- 
pline of  the  Maine  State  Prison,  by  the  Hon.  James  G.  Blaine, 
Commissioner  appointed  under  a  Legislative  Resolve,  approved 
March  27,  1858. 

7.  Annual  Reports  of  the  State  Reform  School  of  ^Maine  for  the 
3'ears  1854-1865  inclusive,  except  the  years  1859  and  1862,  not 
furnished. 

8.  By-Laws  for  the  Government  and  Regulation  of  the  Maine 

State  Reform  School,  to  which  are  added  the  State  Laws  relating 

to  the  same. 

Vol.  XIII. 

1.  Annual  Reports  of  the  ISIaryland  1\  aitontiary  for  the  years 
1857-1864. 

2.  Annual  Reports  on  the  Baltimore  City  Jail  for  the  years 
1861-1805. 

3.  Rules  and  Regulations  of  the  Maryland  Penitentiaiy.     . 

Vol.  XIV. 

1.  Annual  Reports  of  the  Baltimore  House  of  Refuge  for  the 
years  1851-1865,  except  for  1852,  not  furnished. 

2.  A  Memorial  to  the  Legislature  of  Maryland,  by  the  Man- 
agers, appended  to  their  First  Report  (1851). 

3.  A  History  of  the  Baltimore  House  of  Refuge,  appended  to 
the  Fifth  Report.  \ 

4.  A  Memorandum  on  Houses  of  Refuge  in  the  United  States, 
appended  to  same  report. 

Vols.  XV  and  XV L 
1.  Annual  Reports  on  the  Massachusetts  State  Prison  for  the  j'cars 
1839-1865,  except  for  18-12,  1843,  1846  and  1852,  not  furnished. 


UNITED  STATES  AND  CANADA. 


N.  P.  Banks  to  the  Legislature  on  the 


2.  Annual  Reports  of  the  Massachusetts  State  Agti  for  aid- 
iu(r  Discharged  Convicts,  for  the  year  1859-1864. 

3,  Rules  and  Regulations  for  the  Government  of  the  Massachu- 
setts State  Prison,  approved  by  the  Governor  and  Council,  1862. 

4.  Special  Report  on  Prisons  and  Prison  Discipline,  by  the 
Secretary  of  the  Massachusetts  Board  of  State  Charities. 

5,  Catalogue  of  Books  in  the  Library  of  the  Massachusetts 
State  Piison. 

Vol.  XVII. 

1.  Annuid  Reports  of  the  Massachusetts  State  Reform  School 
at  Wcslborough,  for  the  years  1857-1865. 

2.  Annual  Reports  of  the  Nautical  Branch  of  the  S.  R.  School 
for  the  years  1860-1865. 

3.  Message  of  Gov 
Destruction  by  Fire  of  the  Buildings  of  the  S.  R.  School  at  West- 
borough. 

4.  Sundry  Communications  to  Gov.  Banks  from  the  Trustees 
and  others  in  relation  to  the  same. 

5.  Report  of  a  Legislative  Committee  on  the  same  subject. 

6.  An  Act  establishing  the  Nautical  Branch  of  the  State  Reform 
School,  1859. 

7.  Legislative  Resolves  relating  to  said  Nautical  Branch. 

8.  do  do        S.  R.  School. 

9.  By-Laws  for  the  Government  and  Regulation  of  the  S.  R. 
School. 

Vol.  XVIII. 

1.  Annual  Report  of  the  Board  of  Directors  for  Public  Institu- 
tions in  Boston  for  the  years  1858-1864.  [These  Institutions  are 
the  House  of  Correction.  House  of  Industry,  House  of  Reforma- 
tion and  Boston  Lunatic  Hospital.] 

2.  Rules  and  Regulations  for  the  several  Institutions  of  the 
City  of  Boston  [those,  to  wit,  above  named]. 

3.  Report  of  a  Committee  of  the  Common  Council  of  Boston  on 
Alleged  Abuses  at  the  Houses  of  Reformation  and  Correction, 
1864. 

4.  Report  of  a  Committee  of  the  Board  of  Directors  on  the 
subject  of  a  Piggery  for  the  use  of  the  City  Swill,  1861. 

5.  Report  of  a  Committee  of  same  Board  on  the  Supply  of 
Butter  and  Milk  for  the  Institutions  under  their  charge,  1861. 

6.  Eleventh  Annual  Report  of  Rainsford  Island  Hospital,  Bos- 
ton Harbor,  1864. 


8 


PRISONS  AND  REFORMATORIES  OF  THE 


Vol.  XIX. 

1.  Aniumi  Ropoi'ts  of  tho  Ma.-MichiiHcttH  Stato  Indnstriul  School 
for  Girls  for  tho  years  IHOO-lHOf),  except  that  for  1857,  not  fur- 
iiisheil. 

2.  A  Moniorandiini  on  tho  Economy  of  Keforniutorius,  Avilh  a 
Comprehensive  View  of  European  Preventive  Institutious,  ap- 
pended to  (he  First  Annual  Uep<u't  of  the  Superintendent. 

3.  A  Courtideralion  of  the  Advantages  of  tho  Separate  and 
Family  over  tho  United  and  Penitentiary  System  in  Juvenile 
Refornuitories,  appended  to  tho  Third  Annual  Report  of  tho 
Superintendent. 

4.  liy-Laws  for  the  Govermnent  and  Regulation  of  the  Stato 
Industrial  School  for  Girls. 

5.  Form  of  a  Circular  Letter  addressed  to  a  Person  to  whom 
one  of  the  Girls  has  been  apprenticed. 

G.  Form  of  a  Letter  addressed  to  a  Girl  Avho  has  been  appren- 
ticed. 

7.  Letter  to  tho  Judges  of  Probate  and  tho  Conmilssloners 
under  tho  Act  establishing  the  Industrial  School  for  (iirls,  in 
regar<l  to  the  Persons  proper  to  be  committed  to  the  said  Insti- 
tution. 

Vol  XX. 

Annual  Reports  of  tho  Michigan  State  Prison  for  the  years 
18G3,  18G4  and  1865. 

Vol.  XXI. 

1.  Annual  Reports  of  the  Michigan  Stato  Reform  School  for 
the  years  18G0-18G4. 

2.  By-Laws  for  tho  Mich.  S.  R.  School,  18G3. 

3.  Annual  Reports  of  the  Detroit  House  of  Correction  (Michi- 
gan) for  the  years  1862-18G5,  except  that  for  18G4,  not  furnished. 

4.  Rules  and  Regulations  of  the  Detroit  House  of  Correction. 

5.  Report  of  a  Special  Committee  of  the  Common  Council  of 
Detroit,  appointed  to  inquire  into  alleged  Abuses  in  the  Manage- 
ment of  the  House  of  Correction. 

\ 

Vol  XXII. 

1.  Two  Biennial  Reports  of  the  Missoui'i  Penitentiary,  covering 
the  History  of  the  Prison  for  the  years  18G1,  18G2,  18G3  and 
1864. 

2.  Annual  Reports  of  the  St.  Louis  (Mo.)  House  of  liefugc  for 
the  years  1856,  1857,  1858,  1864  and  18G5. 


UNITED  STATES  AND  CANADA.  f 

3.  Act  of  Incorporation  and  Ordinances  for  tlio  Kstnhlisluncnt 
of  u  Hoiido  of  Itcfngo  in  tho  connty  of  St.  Louis,  und  llulcs, 
RfguliitionH  iukI  liy-Liiws  for  its  Govorninent. 

4.  Five  M<  ssagcs  of  tlio  Mayor  of  Ht.  Louis  to  tho  Common 
Council  of  that  city,  durinnr  tho  yours  IHfJa,  18(14,  und  18(55,  con- 
taining KopoilM  on  City  Workliouso  for  said  years. 

Vol.  XXIIL 

1.  licporta  on  the  State  Prison  of  New  Jersey  for  tho  years 
1842-1804,  except  tliose  for  1843,  1840,  1847,  1848,  1850,  1855, 
and  18(50,  not  furnished. 

2.  Itules  of  tho  N.  J.  State  Prison,  embodied  in  tlio  Lispcctors' 
Koportfor  1803,  pp.  37-41. 

3.  Memorandum  on  Discharged  Convicts,  and  the  Duty  of  So- 
ciety towards  tliem,  in  same  Report,  pp.  41-43. 

4.  Report  of  tlio  Inspectors  of  the  N.  J.  State  Prison,  rohitivc 
to  u  Reduction  of  tho  Expenses  of  that  Institution.  1858. 

5.  Report  of  a  Joint  Committee  of  the  Legislature  of  New 
Jersey  on  State  Prison  Accounts,  recommending  a  change  from 
the  Separate  to  the  Congregate  System,  with  tho  Reasons  thorefor. 

Vol.  XXIV. 

1.  Annual  Reports  on  the  New  Hampshire  State  Prison  for  the 
yeors,  1841,  1847,  1850,  1854,  1857,  1859,  1860,  1861,  1862, 
1863  and  1865. 

2.  Rules  and  Reguhvtions  of  the  N.  11.  S.  Prison,  1850. 

3.  Reports  of  the  ^^crmout  State  Prison  for  tho  years  1854, 
1864,  and  1865. 

Vol.  XXV. 

1.  Annual  Ro]^orts  on  the  New  Hampshire  House  of  Reforma- 
tion for  the  year-,  1850-1865. 

2.  Exercises  at  tho  Dedication  of  the  N.  H.  IIouso  of  Reformat 
lion,  May  12,  1858,  appended  to  tho  Report  for  1859. 

Vol  XXVI. 

1.  Annual  Reports  on  tho  Ohio  Penitentiary  for  the  years  1850, 
1861-1864. 

2.  Rules  and  Regulations  for  the  same,  appended  to  Report  for 
1863,  pp.  96-102. 

Vol  XXVII. 

1.  Annual  Reports  on  tho  Cincinnati  House  of  Refuge  for  the 
years  1851-1865,  except  that  for  1862,  not  furnished. 

2.  Laws,  Rules  and  Regulations  relating  to  the  same,  1861. 


13 


PRISONS  AND  REFORMATORIES  OF  THE 


Vol  XXVIII. 

1.  Anmiiil  Reports  on  State  Reform  School,  Lancaster,  Ohio, 
for  years  1858-18G5,  except  thjit  for  18G0,  not  furnished. 

2.  By-Laws,  Rules  and  Regulations  for  same,  appended  to  Re- 
port for  18 G4,  pp.  37-47. 

Vol.  XXIX. 

1.  Annual  Reports  on  the  Eastern  Penitentiary,  Pa.,  for  the 
years  1831-1844,  except  that  for  1834,  not  furm'shed. 

2.  Report  of  a  committee  of  the  Senate  of  Pennsylvania,  on  the 
Eastern  Ponitentiaiy  and  House  of  Refuge  of  the  County  of 
Philadelphia,  1837. 

3.  Two  of  the  Laws  passed  by  the  Legislature  of  Pennsylvania 
relating  to  the  Management  of  the  Eastern  Penitentiary,  together 
Avith  Rules  p.isscd  by  the  Board  of  Inspectors  for  the  Internal 
Governnunt  of  the  same,  1843. 

Vol.  XXX. 

Annual  Reports  on  Eastern  Penitentiary  for  the  years  1845- 

1854.  '  \ 

Vol.  XXXI. 

Annual  Reports  on  Eastern  Penitentiary  for  years  1855-1862. 

Vol.  XXXII. 

1.  Annual  Reports  on  Eastern  Penitentiary  for  18G3  and  18G4. 

2.  A  Report  on  Reconvictions  to  the  Eastern  Penitentiary  from 
the  Admission  of  the  first  convict,  Oct.  25,  1829,  to  April  25, 
18G3.  embracing  a  period  of  thirty-three  years  and  six  months. 

3.  Separate  Report  on  Second  Convictions. 
4^  do  Third  do 

^,  do  Fourth         do 

6.  do  Fifth  and  Sixth  Convictions. 

7.  Tabular  Statement  of  the  Reception  of  Convicts  during 
a  period  of  thirteen  years  into  the  Eastern  Penitentiary,  classilied 
according'  to  their  Crimes,  Color,  Sex,  Age,  Sentence,  Parental, 
Conjugal,  Educational,  Moral  and  Industrial  Relations,  for  each 
successive  year  from  1850  to  18G2  inclusive. 

8.  Annual  Reports  of  the  "Western  Penitentiary,  Pa.,  for  the 
years  18G2-18G5. 

1).  Some  notice  of  the  Ccnmty  Jails  and  Alms-houses  of  Penn- 
sylvania, by  the  Philadelphia  Society  for  the  Alleviation  of  the 
Miseries  of  Public  Prisons.     18G4. 


UNITED  STATES  AND  CANADA. 


11 


10.  Stiitcmont  of  the  Government  and  Discipline  of  the  New 
Yorii  State  Prison  at  Sing  Sing,  by  Robert  Wiltse,  Agent.  1834. 
(Bound  l)y  mistake  in  this  volume.) 

11.  Ivcport  of  the  Commissioners  of  the  Metropolitan  Police 
of  New  York.     1864.     (Bound  in  this  volume  by  mistake.) 

Vol.  XXXIIL 
Annual  Reports  on  the  Philadelphia  House  of  Refuge  for  the 
years  1831-1843,  except  those  for  1834,  1840  and  1841,  not  fur- 
nished. 

Vol.  XXXIV. 

Annual  Reports  on  same  for  the  years  1844-1855,  except  that 

for  1852,  not  furnished. 

Vol.  XXXV. 

1.  Annual  Reports  on  same  for  years  1857-1865. 

2.  By-Laws,  Rules  and  Regulations  for  same. 

3.  Design  and  Advantages  of  the  House  of  Refuge,  with  Acts 
of  Incorporation.     1859. 

Vol  XXXVI. 
Amuial  Reports  on  the  State  Prison  of  Rhode  Island  for  the 
years  1838,  1839,  1842,  1844-1848,  1850,  1851,  1857-1865. 

Vol.  XXXVII. 
Annual  Reports  on  the  Providence  Reform  School  for  the  years 

1854-1805. 

Vol.  XXXVIII. 

Annual  Reports  on  the  State  Prison  of  Vermont  for  the  years 
1843,  1844,  1847-1860,  1864  and  1865. 

Vol.  XXXIX. 

1.  Duties  of  Prisoners  in  the  State  Prison  of  Wisconsin. 

2.  An  Act  relating  to  the  Discipline  of  Convicts  in  the  same. 
(Connnutation  Law.) 

3.  Annual  Reports  on  the  State  Prison  of  Wisconsin  for  the 
years  1857-1865. 

4.  Annual  Reports  on  the  State  Reform  School  of  Wisconsin 
for  the  years  1860-1865,  except  that  for  1862,  not  furnished. 

5.  Rules  and  Regulations  for  Government  of  same,  embodied 
in  the  Fir^it  Annual  Report  (1860),  pp.  16,  17. 

6.  An  Act  for  the  Government  and  Management  of  the  State 
Reform  School,  appended  to  the  Second  Annual  Report  (1861), 
pp.  24-27. 


12  PRISONS  AND  REFORMATORIES  OF  THE 

Vol.  XL. 
Siiiulry  Piipcrs  on  the  Prison  System  of  Pennsylvania,  viz: 

1.  An  Inqniiy  into  the  alleged  Tendency  of  Separation  of  Convicts 
to  produce  Disease  and  Derangement.  By  u  Citizen  of  Pennsyl- 
vania.    1849. 

2.  Report  on  Punishments  and  Prison  Discipline,  by  the  Com- 
missioners to  revise  the  Penal  Code  of  Pennsylvania.  Commis- 
sioners: Judge  Shaler,  Judge  King  and  T.  J.  Wharton.     1828. 

3.  Remarks  on  Cellular  Separation.  By  William  Parker  Foulke. 
1861. 

4.  Remarks  on  the  Penal  System  of  Pennsylvania,  particularly 
with  reference  to  County  Prisons.    By  William  P.  Foulke.     1855. 

5.  Considerations  respecting  the  Policy  of  some  recent  Legisla- 
tion in  Pennsylvania.     By  Wm.  P.  Foulke.     1861. 

'  Vol.  XLI. 

Sundry  Papers  on  Juvenile  Reformatories,  viz: 

1.  Proceedings  of  the  First  Convention  of  Managers  and  Super- 
intendents of  Houses  of  Refuge  and  Reform  Schools  in  the  United 
States,  held  in  the  City  of  New  York.     1857. 

2.  Proceedings  of  the  Second  Convention  of  Managers  and 
Superintendents  of  Reform  Schools,  Houses  of  Refuge,  «fec.,  held 
in  the  City  of  New  York.     1851). 

3.  Reports  on  the  State  Reform  School  of  Connecticut  for  1857- 
1862. 

4.  By-Laws  for  the  Government  and  Regulation  of  the  State  Re- 
form School  of  Connecticut,  embodied  in  the  Tenth  Annual 
Report.     1862. 

5.  Thirteenth  Annual  Report  of  the  Providence  Reform  School. 
1863. 

Vol  XLIL 
[Some  Papers,  not  collected  by  the  commissioners,  and  there- 
fore not  properly  belonging  here,  have  been  bound  up  in  this  and 
the  three  following  volumes.] 

Sundry  Papers  on  Juvenile  Criminals  and  Reformatories,  and 
on  the  Irish  Prison  System: 

1.  Juvenile  Criminals  and  a  Plan  for  Saving  them.  By  Edwin 
AVridit.     Boston:  1865. 

2.  Reformatories  and  what  we  know  of  them-  By  Alfred  Asp- 
land,  Esq.,  r.  R.  C.  S.,  Manchester,  Eng.     1863. 

3.  Report  of  the  Joint  Committee  to  the  Conmion  Council,  on 


UNITED  STATES  AND  CANADA. 


13 


f  Convicts 
Pennsvl- 

the  Com- 
Conimis- 
1828. 
r  Foulkc. 

rticuliiily 
e.  1855. 
t  Lcgisla- 


k1  Siipcr- 
le  United 

^crs  and 
&c.,  held 

•or  1857- 

Statc  Re- 
Annual 

1  School. 


Juvenile  Vices,  Exposur  s  and  Wants  in  the  City  of  Hartford. 
18(53. 

4.  Remarks  of  the  Hon.  C.  C.  Leigh,  of  New  York,  on  the  Bill 
Relative  to  Young  Criminals,  delivered  in  Assembly,  March,  1855. 

5.  Memorial  to  the  Legislature  of  New  York,  by  the  Society 
for  the  Reformation  of  Juvenile  Delinquents,  witii  an  Abstract  of 
a  Report  of  a  Committee  appointed  by  the  Society  for  the  Pre- 
vention of  Pauperism  in  the  said  city,  on  the  subject  of  erecting  a 
House  of  Refuge  for  Vagrant  and  Depraved  Young  People.  1824. 
To  wliicli  are  appended  the  three  following  documents: 

A.  A  List  of  450  Cases  of  Juvenile  Ofl'enees  and  their  Punish- 

ments, in  the  City  of  New  York,  for  1822. 

B.  Twenty-six  Cases,  extracted  from  London  Reports,  of  Tem- 

porary Refuge  to  Juvenile  Oftenders,  with  their  Results. 

C.  An  Act  to  Incorporate  the  Society  for  the  Reformation  of 

Juvenile  Delinquents  in  the  City  of  New  York.     1824. 

6.  Sociele  pour  le  Patronage  des  Jeuncs  Liberes  du  Departe- 
ment  de  la  Seine.     Paris:  1842. 

7.  Suggestions  on  the  Management  of  Reformatories  and  Lidus- 
trial  Schools.     By  Mary  Carpenter.     London:  1864. 

8.  0!)8ervations  on  a  Pamphlet  recently  published  by  the  Rev. 
John  Burt  on  the  Irish  Convict  System.  By  Sir  Walter  Crof- 
ton,  C.  B.     London:  1863. 

9.  The  Present  Aspect  of  the  Convict  Question.  By  Sir  Wal- 
ter Crofton,  C.  B.     liondon:  1864. 

10.  Convict  Systems  and  Trans])ortation.  By  Sir  Walter  Crofton, 
C.  B.     London:  1863. 

11.  Reflections  and  Observations  on  the  Present  Condition  of 
the  Irish  Convict  System.  By  Baron  Franz  Von  Holtzendorf, 
l*rofessor  of  Law  in  the  Universitv  of  Berlin.     Dublin:  1863. 


id  there- 
this  and 


Vol  XLIII. 

1.  Report  on  the  State  Prison  at  Auburn,  made  to  the  Legisla- 
ture Jan.  7,  1828.     By  Gershom  Powers,  Agent  and  Keeper. 

2.  De  la  Mortalite  ct  do  la  Folic,  dans  le  Regime  Penitentiaire. 
Par  L.  M.  Moreau  Christophe,  luspecteur  General  des  Prisons  do 
France.     Paris:  1839. 

3.  Communication  to  Stephen  Allen,  Esq.,  Mayor  of  Ncav  York, 
from  Thomas  Eddy,  Avith  a  Report  on  Tread  Mills,  by  the  London 
Society  for  the  Improvement  of  Irison  Discipline.  New  York  : 
1823. 


14 


PRISONS  AND  REFORMATORIES  OP  THE 


4.  Reports  on  the  Stepping  or  Discipline  Mill,  jit  the  New  York 
Penitentiary  :  together  with  several  Letters  on  the  Subject.  By 
the  Mayor.     New  York:   1823. 

5.  Review  of  the  Report  of  the  Clinton  State  Prison.  (No 
date). 

6.  Our  Present  Jail  System  deeply  Depraving  to  the  Prisoner, 
and  a  Positive  Injury  to  the  Conununity.  Some  Remedies  Pro- 
posed.    By  Joseph  Adshead,  1847. 

7.  Repoit  of  a  Joint  Special  Committee  of  the  Common  Council 
of  New  York,  on  the  Management  of  the  Prisons  on  Blackwell's 
Island,  1849. 

Vol.  XLIV.  ''       " 

1.  Report  on  the  Penitentiary  System  in  the  United  States, 
prepared  under  a  resolution  of  the  Society  for  the  Prevention  of 
Pauperism,  in  the  City  of  New  York.  By  Charles  G.  Haines, 
chairman  of  the  committee. 

2.  Appendix  to  the  above;  containing  Extracts  from  the  Con- 
stitutions of  the  United  States,  and  the  several  states,  securing 
fair  and  impartial  Trials  to  Persons  accused  of  Crime;  together 
with  Letters  in  reply  to  a  Circular  addressed  to  them  by  the  Com- 
mittee from  numerous  Eminent  Persons  in  all  parts  of  the  United 
States  ;  a  Memorandum  on  Capital  Punishments  in  England;  Mr. 
Roscoe's  Views  on  Capital  Punishments;  and  a  Report  to  the 
Senate  of  New  York,  by  a  committee  of  the  same,  on  the  Criminal 
Laws  and  Penal  Administration  of  the  State,  1822. 

3.  Special  Report  on  Prisons  and  Prison  Discipline,  made  under 
authority  ot  the  Board  of  State  Charities.  By  the  Secretary  of 
the  Board.     Boston:  18(5.5. 

4.  Observations  on  the  Separate  System  of  Discipline.  By  Sir 
Joshua  Jebb,  Surveyor-General  of  Prisons  in  Great  Britain. 
London:   1847. 

5.  Sketch  of  the  Principal  Transactions  of  the  Philadelphia 
Society  for  Alleviating  the  Miseriqs  of  Public  Prisons,  from  its 
Origin  to  the  Present  Time.     Philadelphia:  1859.  v 

Vol.  XLV. 

1.  Papers  on  the  Penal  Servitude  Acts.  By  M.  D.  Hill,  Re- 
corder of  Birmingham.     London:  18()4. 

2.  Newgate  in  Connecticut:  A  History  of  the  Prison,  &c.,  &c. 
To  which  is  appended  a  Description  of  the  State  Prison  at  Weatli- 
ersfield.     By  Richard  II.  Phelps.     Hartford:  1844. 


UNITED  STATES  AND  CANADA. 


15 


3.  Report  on  the  Comp.'irative  IlcJiltli,  Mortality,  Length  of  Sen- 
tences, &c.,  by  a  Committee  of  the  Phihulel[)hui  Prison  Society,  1849. 

4.  A  Ileport  on  Food  and  Diet,  &c.,  snitcd  to  Almshouses,  Prisons 
and  Hospitals.     IJy  Hon.  John  Stanton  Gould.     New  York:  1852. 

5.  Rides  and  Regulations  for  the  Government  and  Discipline  of 
the  State  Ihisons  of  New  York,  1857. 

6.  Presentment  of  the  Grand  Jury,  at  a  Court  of  Oyer  and 
Terminer,  holden  for  the  City  and  County  of  Ncav  York,  in  1849, 
under  Instructions  from  Judire  Edmonds  to  make  an  Examination 
of  the  Prisons  and  other  Institutions  in  this  County,  which  arc 
under  the  Direction  of  the  City  Authorities,  1849. 

7.  Rules  and  Regulations  of  the  Essex  County  Jail,  at  Newark, 
N.  J.,  1857. 

8.  An  Act  to  transfer  the  Charge  of  keeping  the  Jails  and  the 
Custody  of  the  Prisoners  in  the  Counties  of  Essex  and  Hudson, 
from  the  Sheriffs  to  the  Boards  of  chosen  Freeholders,  and  for 
the  Employment  of  the  Prisoners,  and  to  regulate  their  Term  of 
Service  therein. 

9.  The  Petting  and  Fretting  of  Female  Convicts,  1863. 

10.  Annual  Message  of  the  Mayor  of  Cincinnati,  containing 
Notices  of  the  City  Prisons,  18G4. 

11.  Annual  Report  of  the  Chief  of  Police  to  the  Mayor  of  Cin- 
cinnati, 18G4. 

12.  Inaugural  Address  at  the  opening  of  the  session  1863-64, 
of  the  Mauclioster  Statistical  Society.  By  A.  Asplaud,  Esq. 
Manchester,  1863. 

13.  On  American  Prisons.  By  Alfred  Aspland.  Read  hcforo 
the  Manchester  Statistical  Societj^  Dec.  14,  1864. 

14.  Report  of  the  Joint  Committee  on  Prisons,  relative  to  the 
Condition  and  Management  of  Jails,  to  the  Legislature  of  Con- 
necticut,    Hartford,  1865. 

15.  An  Act  concerning  Prisons,  proposed  to  the  Legislature  of 
Connecticut,  1865. 

Vol.XLVI. 

1.  Annual  Reports  of  William  J.  Mullen,  Prison  Agent  of  tho 
Philadelphia  County  Prison,  for  the  years  1854-1864. 

2.  Annual  Report  of  the  Inspectors  of  the  Philadelpliia  County 
Prison,  for  the  year  1864. 

Vols.  XLVII  and  XLVIIL 
Revised  Statutes  of  Kentucky. 


16  PRISONS  AND  REFORMATORIES  OF  THE 

Vols.  XLIX,  L  and  LI. 
Laws  of  Indiana  for  the  years  1861,  18G2  and  1863. 

Vol.  LII. 

General  Statutes  of  Massachusetts.  ;  , 

Vol.  LIU. 
Supplement  to  General  Statutes  of  Massachusetts. 

Vol.LIV. 

Revised  Statutes  of  New  Hampshire. 

Vol.LV.  V      - 

Laws  of  New  Hampshire  for  1860,  1861,  1864  and  1865. 

Vol.LVL 
Statutes  of  Connecticut. 

Vols.  LVII  and  LVIIL 
Compiled  Laws  of  Michigan. 


Vols.  LIX  and  LX. 
Revised  Statutes  of  Rhode  Island,  and  Supplement  to  ditto. 

Vol.LXL  , 

Laws  of  Pennsylvania  for  1860. 

Vols.  LXII  and  LXIIL 

Revised  Statutes  of  Missouri.  ,        «  ' 

Vols.  LXIV  and  LXV. 
Revised  Statutes  of  Ohio. 

Vols.  LXVI  and  LXVIL  .; 

Revised  Statutes  of  Illinois. 

Vols.  LXV  III,  LXIX  and  LXX.  '* 

Laws  of  Illinois  for  the  years  1859-1863.  ^       \ 

II.  M.VNUSCKUT  Documents. 

Interrogatories  on  State  Prisons  : 

1.  Answers  by  William  Willard,  A\''ardeu  of  Connecticut  State 
Prison. 

2.  Answers  hy  Thomas  AVood,  Warden  State  Prison  Northern 
Indiana. 


UNITED  STATES  AND  CANADA. 


17 


3.  Answers  by  the  Rev.  J.  S.  Huys,  one  of  the  Inspectors  of 
the  Kentucky  Penitentiary. 

4.  Answers  by  Warren  "VV.  Rice,  Warden  Maine  State  Prison. 
.">.  Answers  by  Gideon  Haynes,  Warden  Massachusetts  State 

Prison. 

(5.  Answers  by  W.  L.  Seaton,  Ex- Warden  Mich.  State  Prison. 

7.  Answers  by  P.  T.  Miller,  Ex-AVarden  Missouri  Penitentiary. 

8.  Answers  by  Rev.  Samuel  Cooke,  Chaplain  N.  II.  State  Prison. 

9.  Ansivers  by  John  A.  Prentice  Warden  Ohio  Penitentiary. 

10.  Answers  by  H.  Campbell,  Warden  Western  Penitentiary,  Pa. 

11.  Answers  by  R.  W.  Blaisdell,  Warden  R.  I.  State  Prison. 

12.  Answers  by  Rev.  Malcolm  Douglas,  Chaplain  Vcrniont  State 
Prison. 

13.  Answers  by  H.  Cordier,  Esq.,  Commissioner  Wisconsin  State 
Prison. 

[No  answers  wore  received  from  the  wardens  of  the  State  pri- 
sons of  Illinois,  Southern  Indiana,  Maryland,  New  Jersey,  and  the 
Eastern  Penitentiary,  Pa.,  nor  from  I  he  keepers  of  the  jails  iu 
Delaware  and  West  Virginia,  in  which  State  prisoners  are  confined.] 

Interrogatories  on  Houses  of  Correction  in  Mass.  : 

14.  Answers  by  F.  B.  Sanborn,  Sec.  Board  of  State  Charities. 

Interrogatoi'ies  on  the  Detroit  House  of  Correction  : 

15.  Answers  1)3'^  Z.  R.  Brockway,  Superintendent. 

[The  above  are  all  the  answers  received  on  Houses  of  Correction.] 

Interrogatories  on  Countj'^  Jails  : 
IG.  Answers  b}'^  F.  B.  Sanborn,  Mass. 

17.  Answers  by  W.  P.  Crafton,  Sheriff  of  Sangamon  Co.,  ill. 

18.  Answers  by  the  Warden  of  Baltimore  City  Jail,  Md. 
[The  ab(»';e  are  all  the  answers  received  on  county  jails.] 

Interrogatories  on  Juvenile  Reformatories  : 

19.  Answers  by  E.  VV.  Hatch,  Superintendent  of  the  State  Re- 
form School  of  Connecticut. 

20.  Answers  by  George  W.  Perkins,  Superintendent  Chicago 
Reform  School. 

21.  Answers  l)y  George  B.  Barrows,  Superintendent  State  Re- 
form School  of  Maine. 

22.  Answers  by  W.  R.  Lincoln,  Sup't  Baltiimore  House  of  Re- 
fuge. 

23.  Answers  by  Jos.  A.  Allen,  Superintendent  State  Reform 
School  of  Maissachusctts. 

[Assem.  No.  35.J  2 


18 


PRISONS  AND  REFORMATORIES   OP  THE 


24.  Answers  by    Richard   Matthews,    Superintendent   Nautical 
Branch  of  State  Ketorm  School,  Mass. 

25.  Answers  by  Rev.  Marcus  Ames,  Superintendent  and  Chap- 
lain Mass.  State  Industrial  School  for  Girls. 

20.  Answers  by  C.  B.  Robinson,  Sujjerintendent  State  Reform 
School  of  Michigan. 

27.  Answers  by  II.  S.  Glcason,  Superintendent  St.  Louis  House 
of  Refuge. 

28.  Answers  by  Abijah  Watson,  Superintendent  Cincinnati 
IIou-sc  of  Refujje. 

29.  Answers  by  Jesse  K.  McKeever,  Superintendent  Philadelphia 
House  of  Refuge — white  department.  « 

30.  Answers  by  J.  Hood  Laverty,  Superintendent  Philadelphia 
House  of  Refuge — colored  department. 

31.  Answers  by  James  M.  Talcott,  Superintendent  Providence 
Reform  Scliool,  R.  I. 

32.  Answers  by  Moses  Barrett,  Superintendent  State  Reform 
School,  Wisconsin. 

[There  are  no  reformatories  in  Delaware,  Indiana,  New  Jersey 
Vermont,  West  Virginia.  That  in  Kentucky,  near  Louisville,  had 
but  just  gone  into  operation.  The  only  institutions  of  this  kind 
visited,  from  whose  superintendents  no  answers  Averc  received, 
were  the  Pittsburgh  House  of  Refujxe  and  the  State  Ref.  School 
of  New  Hampshire.] 

Interrogatories  on  the  Administration  of  Criminal  Justice  : 

33.  Answers  by  Walter  Pitkin,  Esq.,  of  Connecticut. 

34.  Answers  by  Hon.  Conrad  Baker  and  A.  Wilsbach,  Esqs.,  of 
Indiana. 

35.  Answers  by  lion.  E.  L.  Van  Winkle,  of  Kentucky. 
30.  Answci's  by  A.  Sterling,  jr.,  Esq.,  of  Maryland. 

37.  Answers  by  George  W.  Searle,  Esq.,  of  Massachusetts. 

38.  Answers  l)y  li.  K.  Clark  and  Henry  A.  Morrow,  Escjs.,  of 
Michigan. 

39.  Answers  by  Cortlandt  Parker,  Esq.,  and  Jno.  F.  liegeman, 
Esq.,  of  New  Jersey. 

40.  Answers  by  Hon.  S.  D.  Bell,  of  New  Hampshire. 

41.  Answers  by  J.  J.  Barclay,  Esq.,  of  Pennsylvania. 

[No  answers  were  received  from  the  gentlemen  in  the  nine 
other  States,  in  whose  hands  we  placed  otu*  interrogatories, 
although  from  most  of  them  we  received  assurances  that  our 
request  should  be  complied  with.] 


UNITED   STATES  AND   CANADA. 


19 


enrcman, 


42.  Three  Letters  from  Mrs.  Siinih  Peter,  of  Cincinnati,  Ohio, 
relating  to  the  Female  Prison  of  that  city  and  those  European 
prisons,  on  whose  model  it  is  conducted. 

43.  A  letter  from  the  Hon.  Cyrus  Mendenhall,  of  Ohio,  giving 
an  outline  of  the  Prison  System  of  that  State,  with  Suggestions 
as  to  needed  Modification     herein. 

44.  A  valuable  Letter  on  several  Points  connected  with  the 
Organization  and  Management  of  Prisons  and  the  Objects  of 
Prison  Discipline,  from  a  Gentleman  connected  as  Inspector  with 
a  State  Prison,  who  prefers  that  his  name  should  not  be  mentioned. 

45.  A  Letter  on  the  Maimer  of  Changing  Books  in  the  Prison 
Library  of  the  Massachusetts  State  Prison,  from  the  Kev.  G.  J. 
Carleton,  Chaplain  of  the  Prison. 

Previously  to  the  appointment  of  the  undersigned  as  commis- 
sioners to  visit  prisons  out  of  the  State,  a  special  committee,  of 
Avhich  Dr.  Lieber  was  chairnuvp,  had  been  appointed  to  corres- 
pond Avith  ex-Governors  of  the  several  States  in  regard  to  the 
pardoning  power.  Letters  containing  a  set  of  interrogatories  on 
this  subject  were  addressed  to  all  the  ex-Governors  of  the  loyal 
States,  but  answers  were  received  only  from  the  following  gentle- 
men, viz  :  Hons.  Salmon  P.  Chase,  of  Ohio  ;  Israel  Washburne, 
Maine  ;  Samuel  Wells,  Maine  ;  Henry  Dutton,  Connecticut ;  \Vm. 
W.  Ellsworth,  Connecticut ;  A.  H.  Holley,  Connecticut ;  Isaac 
Toucey,  Connecticut ;  H.  B.  Anthony,  Rhode  Island ;  Elisha 
Dyer,  Rhode  Island;  Washington  Hunt,  New  York;  John  A. 
King,  New  York  ;  E.  T.  Throop,  New  York  ;  Wm.  F.  Johnston, 
Pennsylvania  ;  Wm.  F.  Packer,  Pennsylvania ;  Wm  L.  Greealy, 
Michigan. 

The  above  communications  were  passed  over  to  the  under- 
signed, who  were  also  members  of  the  special  committee,  for 
incorporation,  as  far  Jis  they  might  judge  expedient,  in  the 
present  report. 

We  deem  it  proper  to  append,  at  this  point,  the  several  series 
of  interrogatories,  referred  to  in  a  former  part  of  this  introduc- 
tion. 

I.  Interuooatories  relating  to  State  Prisons, 

I.   The  Prison  System. 

1.  What  classes  of  penal  and  correctional  institutions  compose 
the  prison  system  of  this  State  ? 


i 


I 


20 


PRISONS  AND  REFORMATORIES   OF  THE 


II.  General  Adihinistratinn. 

2.  Is  thoro  Jiny  oontnil  imthority,  Imviiij;^  the  control  and 
uiiinajjcnK'nt  of  tho  whole  system  ? 

8.  It'  yes,  how  is  it  constituted,  and  what  arc  its  powers  and 
duties? 

4.  If  not,  what  opinion  is  held  Ji8  to  the  probable  utility  of 
such  central  authority  ? 

5.  If  a  central  governing  ])ower  is  wantinjr,  in  whose  hands  is 
the  controlling  authority  of  the  prisons  lodged  ? — the  State 
prison  ? — tlie  county  jails  ? — the  penitentiaries,  workhouses  or 
houses  of  correction? — the  various  institutions  for  juvenile  de- 
linciuents? — any  other  penal  institutions,  not  falling  luulcr  the 
above  designations?  (The  ol)ject  of  this  intcri'ogatory  is  to  get 
at  the  niachinei-y  of  the  prison  system  of  the  State.) 

III.    The  State  Prison. 

6.  What,  if  anj',  are  the  peculiar  features  of  the  State  prison — 
that  is,  what  gives  it  its  individualiti/  / 

IV.  Prison  PreniiHes.  ,    ,    . 

7.  How  extensive  are  the  prison  premises  ? 

8.  IIoAv  are  they  inclosed  ?  What  are  the  thickness  and  height 
of  the  wall  ? 

9.  What  is  the  drainage? 

10.  Is  there  a  garden  ?     Any  ornamental  grounds  ? 

V.  Prison  Buildings. 

11.  What  are  the  prison  buildings  ? 

12.  What  are  the  dimensions,  material,  structure,  arrangements, 
etc.,  of  the  prison  proper? 

13.  What  the  number,  size,  ^nd  furniture  of  the  cells? 

14.  What  are  the  dimensions  and  arrangements  of  the  chapel  ? 
1.5.  What  of  the  hospital  ? 

K).  AVhat  of  the  dining-hall,  if  there  is  one. 

17.  AVhat  of  the  guard-room? 

18.  What  of  the  workshops  ? 

VI.  Government  of  the  Prison. 

19.  Who  compose  the  staff  of  prison  officers  ? 

20.  IIow  are  the  superior  ofiicers  of  the  staff  appointed  ?     How 
the  inferior  ? 

21.  What  salaries  are  paid  to  the  several  officers  composing  the 
staff? 

22.  Do  party  politics  control,  or  in  any  degree  influence,  the 
appointment  of  officers  and  the  administration  of  the  prison? 

23.  What  are  deemed  to  be  the  proper  qualifications  of'  prison 
officers  ? 


UNITED   STATES  AND  CAN'ADA. 


21 


2-1.  How  far  nro  the  voquiHito  quulificiitions  possossotl  l)y  tho 
officers  iic'tUHlly  omployod? 

25.  What  fjl'iuM'iil  lino  of  coiuliiot  is  marked  out  for  officers  in 
their  inttarourMe  with  the  ])ri«()nerH  ? 

2<).  Are  officersi  required  to  iiljstuiu  from  intoxicating  drinks 
and  the  u.se  of  profane  lan<jua<re? 

27.  Wiuit  special  duties  ludong  to  eacli  officer  or  class  of 
officers  ? 

2^.  How  many  prisoners  are  givcii  into  the  charge  of  one 
keeper  ? 

21>.  How  many  guards  are  there  in  the  prison  ? 

80.  AVhat  is  tlic  designation  of  the  body  having  the  general 
oversight  and  control  of  the  prison  ? 

IM.  How  many  ineml)ers  compose  it? 

82.  How  are  they  api)()inted  to  their  places  ? 

88.  Do  they  receive  sahn-ies,  or  are  their  services  gratuitous? 

84.  What  are  their  powers  and  duties  ? 

8o.  How  often  do  they  meet,  and  how  nmch  service  do  they 
render  ? 

8().  Are  any  officers  chargr-d  with  the  daily  inspection  of  the 
prison  ? 

87.  Are  there  special  inspections  by  tho  Governor  and  by 
legislative  committees,  and  if  so,  how  often? 

Vn.  Discipline  of  the  Prison, 

38.  What  arc  the  rules  and  regulations  of  the  prison,  so  far  as 
they  apply  to  the  convicts  ? 

8y.  Are  the  rules  explained  to  the  prisoners  on  entering,  or  in 
Avhat  May  are  they  made  acquainted  with  them? 

40.  Does  the  chaplain  converse  with  each  convict  before  he  is 
set  to  "work  ? 

41.  Are  convicts  kept  anytime,  and  if  so,  hoAV  long,  in  solitary 
confinement  before  beinij  assijrned  to  labor? 

42.  How  far  is  kindness  employed  as  a  means  of  discipline  ? 

43.  If  yes,  in  Avhat  ways? 

44.  with  what  effect? 

45.  Are  rewards  employed,  and  if  so,  to  what  extent,  as  a 
stinudus  to  good  conduct  ? 

4(5.  \(\vAi  is  the  eliect  of  the  conmuitation  law  on  convicts  ? 

47.  Is  this  law  explained  to  convicts  on  entering? 

48.  Do  they  ajjpear  to  understand  it? 

41).  Does  each  convict  keep  an  account  with  himself,  so  that  he 
knows  how  nmch  time  he  has  earned  l)y  good  conduct,  and  how 
much  he  has  forfeited  by  subseciuent  bad  conduct? 

50.  How  much  time  may  a  convict  earn  by  uniform  good  con- 
duct ? 

51.  What  is  the  effect  of  bad  conduct  on  time  previously  earned? 

52.  Is  any  gratuity,  or  any  portion  of  the  earnings  of  the  con- 
victs, allowed  to  them  for  good  behavior  ? 


22 


PRISONS  AND  REFORMATORIES  OF  THU 


!)',].  Has  lh(Mo  hcvn  iiitnxliicod  into  the  priHoii  iiiiy  Hy.storn  of 
1)iuli^«'s,  luiirUs,  or  chissitieatioii  of  pi'MoiKM'H  on  tlu;  basis  of  tlutir 
conduct,  intiMxIod  to  8tiiniiliitc  them  to  industry  nid  virtue? 

54.  If  yo8,  with  what  results? 

.')•'>.  If  no,  what,  if  any  is  the  objection  to  the  introduction  of 
sucii  a  system? 

!){\.  Mi^ht  not  the  i)rinci|)K!  of  rewards  ho  more  extensively 
intr()diice<l  into  our  prison  systems,  with  advantage  to  the  disci- 
pline and  henetit  to  the  prisoners? 

57.  What  system  of  rewards,  if  an}-,  would  he  likely  to  he  least 
ohjectionahle  an«l  most  etfective? 

5H.  Are  any  special  privileges  accorded  to  convicts  on  puhlic 
holidays?  If  so,  what  are  they,  and  with  what  results  have  they 
htcn  attended?  i 

51).  What  are  the  different  kinds  of  punishment  enii)loyed  in 
the  prison? 

t)0.  Is  the  lash  ever  used? 

<)l.  If  not,  is  its  use  prohibited  by  law? 

02.  What  punishments  are  found  most  ctlcclive? 

(i;$.  What  is  the  relative  })ower  of  kindness  and  severity  as 
means  of  discipline? 

(54.  Would  not  a  greater  variety  of  punishments  be  advant.i- 
geous,  particularly  of  the  minor  kinds,  as  privation  of  correspond- 
ence with  frienda  outside,  privation  of  bedding,  of  particular  kinds 
of  food,  etc.  ? 

(55.  Since  there  can  be  no  privation  without  pre-existing  privi- 
lege, might  not  an  increase  of  privilege  be  accorded,  with  express 
reference  to  privation  on  misbehavior? 

(5(5.  Would  it  not  bo  Avell  to  supplement  the  Auburn  or  congre- 
gate system  of  imprisonment,  with  a  nund)cr  of  solitary  cells  for 
exceptional  cases? 

(57.  Are  punishments  frequent  or  infrequent? 

()H.  To  what  extent  are  they  recorde<l? 

(5i).  For  what  otl'ences  are  punishments  chiefly  inflicted? 

70.  In  what  shops  are  punishments  most  frequent? 

71.  Do  the  8urge(m's  books  indicate  a  greater  amount  of  disease 
in  .shoi)s  where  there  are  most  punishments? 

72.  In  the  shops  where  the  larger  number  of  punishments 
occur,  do  any  physical  causes  exist  calculated  to  produce  irritation 
in  the  convicts,  or  which  otherwise  might  accoimt  for  it? 

73.  Are  the  keepers  of  these  sho])s  observed  to  be  more  indo- 
lent and  le>is  watchful  than  in  others,  where  punishments  are  less 
Irequent? 

74.  Among  which  class  of  prisoners  is  there  the  hirger  propor- 
tional amount  of  punishment.s — among  those  who  have  been  in  one 
year  and  under,  or  tive  years  and  ov;>v? 

75.  Iliis  ileath  or  permanent  injury  resulted  from  any  of  the 
punishments  used  in  the  prison? 

7(5.  Must  ull  punishments  be  intlictcd  under  the  direction  of  the 


UNITED   STATES  AND  CANADA. 


23 


.,  :* 


wardon,  or  niny  undcr-koopers,  In  uny  case,  udininistcr  punish- 
luonf? 

77.  If  uiMlor-kceporH  nmy  inflict  piuiiNlimcnf,  have  any  alniscn 
arisen  in  coiiNOfjuonca  of  their  posMOMsinj?  this  power? 

7H.  If  they  may  not,  hati  the  discipline  ttutfurcd  for  thu  want  of 
the  power? 

71).  Are  there  any  tests  in  the  prison  l»y  which  the  ability  of 
prisoners  to  resist  temptation  can  he  measured? 

HO.  IIow  com[)rehensive  and  thorough  is  the  vigilance  of  the 
officers? 

HI.  What  is  the  effect  of  vigilonco  on  the  di.«ciplinc? 

H2.  Is  ill!  intercourse  among  prisoners  furi>iddcn? 

8.'J.  How  far  can  this  law  l)e  enforced? 

84.  IIow  far  and  in  what  ways  is  the  rule  of  silence  evaded? 

HI).  Can  this  evasion  proceed  to  sujIi  an  extent  that  the  com- 
munications of  the  prisoners  hccomo  mutually  corrupting? 

8().  Are  complaints  from  prisoneru  of  injustice  un  the  part  of 
keepers  ever  investigated? 

87.  Is  the  testimony  of  prisoners  ever  received? 

88.  litis  the  distinctive  pris(Mi-dress  been  abolished?  If  so,  on 
what  grounds  and  for  what  reasons? 

89.  What,  thus  far,  has  been  the  effect  of  its  discontinuance  on 
the  prisoners?     Has  the  result  answered  to  the  expectation? 

1)U.  If  the  prison  uniform  has  not  been  abolished,  might  it  not 
be  discontinued,  not  only  without  detriment  but  advantageously 
to  the  interests  of  the  prison? 

91.  Is  the  lock-step  in  use  in  this  prison? 

92.  What  are  the  feelings  of  the  convicts  toward  it?  Does  it, 
or  iloes  it  not,  wound  their  self-respect? 

93.  If  yes,  are  there  any  such  advantages  arising  from  it  as  to 
require  its  retention? 

94.  Is  there  a  telegraph  from  each  shop  to  the  guard-room? 

95.  What  arrangements  are  there  for  the  extinguishment  of 
fires? 

9(i.  In  cose  of  a  revolt  or  rebellion  of  the  prisoners,  what  pro- 
vision is  there  for  subduing  it? 

VIII,  Religions  and  Moral  Agencies. 

97.  AVh.it  are  the  duties  of  the  chaphun? 

98.  What  are  his  rights? 

99.  Has  he  an  office  in  the  prison? 

100.  What  are  the  services  of  the  Sabbath? 

101.  Is  there  a  Sabbath-school? 

102.  If  yes,  do  all  attend,  or  only  a  part? 

103.  Who  conduct  the  Sabbath-school? 

104.  Are  the  convicts  interested  in  it? 

105.  What  religious  sorvicps,  if  any,  are  held  on  week-days? 
10(5.  Do  the   prisoners  appear  to   like  the  religious  services  . 

which  they  are  required  to  attend? 


24 


PRISONS  AND  REFORMATORIES  OF  THE 


107.  What  effect  appears  to  be  procluced  upon  them  hy  these 
services? 

108.  What  religious  offices  are  performed  to  the  sick  and  the 
dying? 

101).  What  disposition  is  made  of  the  bodies  of  convicts  after 
death? 

110.  Is  there  any  burial-service,  and  if  so,  what? 

111.  Is  ever}' prisoner  furnished  with  a  Bible?  with  a  hymn- 
book?  with  a  prayer-book? 

112.  How  much  use  do  they  make  of  their  Bibles? 

1 13.  Is  there  a  choir  in  the  prison? 

114.  Is  there  a  melodeon? 

115.  Do  the  prisoners  generally  join  in  the  singing? 

116.  What  good  effects,  if  any,  are  observed  to  result  from  the 
use  of  sacred  song  in  the  religious  services? 

117.  Do  baptisms  ever  take  place  in  the  prison? 

118.  Is  the  Lord's  Supper  ever  administered? 

119.  Are  persons  from  outside  ever  admitted  within  the  prison 
to  make  efforts  for  the  moral  and  religious  improvement  of  the 
prisoners? 

120.  If  yes,  to  what  extent  and  under  what  restrictions? 

121.  How  extensively  does  the  chaplain  visit  and  converse  pri- 
vately with  the  prisoners? 

122.  How  are  such  visits  received? 

123.  Is  there  now,  or  has  there  ever  been,  a  prayer-meeting 
among  the  convicts?  If  yes,  how  conducted  and  with  Avhat 
results? 

124.  Are  religious  tracts  and  papers  distributed  to  the  con- 
victs? 

125.  Does  the  chaplain  converse  with  the  prisoners  immedi- 
ately before  their  discharge,  and  for  what  special  purpose? 

120.  Does  the  chaplain  ever  tserve  as  a  medium  of  communica- 


If 


yes, 


for 


tion  between  prisoners  and  their  friends  outside? 
what  purposes  and  with  what  results? 

127.  What,  in  a  general  way,  are  the  results  of  the  religious 
influences  brought  to  Jiear  upon  the  prisoners? 

128.  Do  genuine  spiritual  conversions  ever,  in  the  judgment 
of  the  chaplain,  take  place  among  the  convicts?  If  yes,  to  Avhat 
extent? 

120.  How  far  does  the  conduct  of  prisoners,  after  discharge, 
justify  the  hopes  inspired  l)y  their  conduct  while  in  prison? 

130.  iNIight  the  religious  element  be  introduced  Avith  advantage 
to  a  still  greater  extent  th:in  it  is  at  present? 

131.  Who  has  charge  of  the  correspondence  of  the  prisoners? 

132.  How  often  and  under  wliat  restrict  ions  arc  convicts  per- 
mitted to  correspond  with  friends? 

133.  What  is  the  general  character  of  the  letters  written  by 
them? 


tNITED  STATES  AND  CANADA. 


25 


134.  What  is  the  general  character  of  the  letters  received  by 

them? 

135.  What  influence  is  hereby  (that  is,  by  their  correspond- 
ence) exerted  upon  them — is  it  benoticial  or  otherwise? 

136.  Does  the  chaplain,  or  whoever  has  charge  of  the  corres- 
pondence, avail  himself  of  letters  Avritten  or  received  by  convicts 
to  awaken  or  deepen  good  impressions  on  their  minds  by  salutary 
counsels  and  exhortations? 

137.  How  often  and  under  what  restrictions  are  convicts  allowed 
to  receve  the  visits  of  their  friends? 

138.  May  they  receive  eatables  from  their  friends  at  such  times? 

139.  Do  these  visits  have  a  good  or  a  bad  eifect  upon  them? 

140.  How  extensively  and  under  what  regulations,  are  general 
visitors  admitted  into  the  prison? 

141.  Is  a  fee  required  of  them  for  the  privilege? 

142.  What  is  the  influence  upon  the  convicts  of  admitting  gen- 
eral visitors? 

143.  Has  it  been  observed  to  increase  masturbation? 

144.  What  proportion  of  the  visitors  are  females? 

145.  Are  convicts  allowed  to  bring  their  diflicultios  and  bur- 
dens to  the  warden  for  the  purpose  of  seeking  relief? 

146.  If  so,  in  what  manner?  Does  the  warden  set  apart  a  cer- 
tain hour  of  the  day  in  which  he  will  give  audience  to  such  cases, 
or  is  some  other  method  adopted? 

147.  What  is  found  to  be  the  influence  of  allowing  this  privi- 


lejre  to  convicts? 


IX.  Secular  Instmction, 


148.  Is  secular  instruction  given  to  the  prisoners? 

149.  If  yes,  who  has  the  general  direction  of  this  department? 

150.  What  proportion  of  the  convicts  cannot  read  when  they 
are  received? 

151.  Of  those  who  can  read,  what  proportion  lack  such  a  mas- 
tery of  the  art  as  to  be  unable  to  read  the  Bible  and  other  books 
without  spelling  out  more  or  l';ss  of  the  words,  and  therefore 
need  further  instruction? 

152.  Is  there  a  school  in  the  prison,  where  the  prisoners  assem- 
ble and  receive  instruction  in  classes?  If  yes,  how  are  the  hours 
of  instruction  arranged,  and  what  is  the  system  of  lessons  adopted? 

153.  If  the  convicts  are  taught  separately  in  their  cells,  how 
many  are  assigned  to  one  teacher,  how  often  is  each  visited  by 
the  teacher,  and  how  much  instruction  does  he  receive? 

154.  What  branches  of  knowledge  are  taujjht? 

155.  How  much  interest  is  taken  in  their  lessons,  and  what 
proficiency  is  made  by  the  convicts? 

156.  If  the  convicts  are  jissembled  in  classes  for  instruction, 
what  advantages,  if  any,  and  what  disadvantages,  if  any,  are 
found  to  result  from  the  arrangement? 

157.  If  they  are  taught  separately,  are  there  supposed  to  be 
any  special  advantages  in  this  method? 


26 


PaiSONS  AND  REFORMATOrJES   OF  THE 


158.  "Would  the  establishment  of  a  school,  in  which  instruction 
should  be  given  in  classes,  be  preferable  to  the  system  of  indi- 
vidual lessons;  and,  if  so,  wherein? 

159.  If  such  is  the  judgment  of  the  authorities,  what  hinders 
the  introduction  of  the  improved  system? 

160.  What  compensation  is  given  to  the  teachers? 

161.  Who  has  charge  of  the  prison  library? 

162.  How  many  volumes  does  the  library  contain? 

163.  What  is  the  character  of  the  books? 

164.  What  kinds  are  most  read? 

165.  What  are  the  regulations  of  the  library,  as  to  giving  out 
and  returning  books,  care  of  books,  &c.,  <fec.? 

166.  Are  ])ooks  examined  when  returned? 

167.  What  proportion  of  prisoners  are  in  the  habit  of  taking 
out  books? 

168.  What  evidence  is  there  that  the  books  taken  out  are  really 
read  to  any  great  extent? 

169.  What  time  do  the  prisoners  have  for  reading? 

170.  If  task- work  is  in  vogue,  are  the  men  who  accomplish 
their  tasks  before  the  close  of  the  day  allowed  to  read  in  the 
shops? 

171.  Is  there  an  annual  appropriation  by  the  Legislature  for 
the  increase  of  the  library;  and,  if  so,  how  much? 

172.  If  there  is  no  appropriation  by  the  Legislature,  how  are 
funds  for  this  purpose  obtained? 

173.  Bv  whom  are  the  books  selected? 

174.  Are  the  prisoners  allowed  to  take  or  to  read  any  secular 
newspaper? 

175.  Are  they  allowed  to  take  magazines  ^ 

176.  Arc  many  of  the  convicts  evideuUy  growtnsr  in  knoiciedgfe? 

177.  What,  on  the  whole,  is  thought  to  be  the  influence  of  the 
library  on  the  discipline  of  the  prison,  and  the  reformjitiou  of  the 
prisoners? 

X.  Physical  and  Hygienic  Relations. 

178.  What  is  the  ventilation  of  the  prison? 

179.  What  is  the  method  of  heating? 

180.  At  what  temperature  is  the  prison  kept  in  winter? 

181.  What  degree  of  heat  is  reached  in  summer? 

182.  How  is  the  prison  lighted  by  day?  Do  the  prisonej-s  have 
abundance  of  light  for  reading  in  a  cloudy  day? 

183.  How  is  it  lighted  at  night? 

184.  Do  the  prisoners  have  light  enough  to  read  by  without 
straining  their  eyes? 

185.  To  what  hour  are  the  lights  kept  burning? 

186.  What  is  the  daily  bill  of  fare  for  the  prisoners? 

187.  Where  do  the  prisoners  take  their  meals?  Which  is 
thought  to  be  the  preferal)le  mode — to  have  the  convicts  eat  in  a 
common  dining-hall,  or  in  their  cells,  and  on  what  grounds  is  the 
preference  given  to  one  method  over  the  other? 


!?,  n 


UNITED  STATES  AND   CANADA. 


IT 


188.  How  are  the  supplies  procured — by  contract,  or  by  the 
warden  at  his  discretion?  If  by  contract,  how  long  does  the  con- 
tract last? 

18J).  Which  of  these  systems  is  preferred,  and  for  what  reasons? 

190.  What  effect,  if  any,  has  the  dietary  on  the  discipline? 

lyi.  What  is  the  clothing  of  the  prisoners  in  winter? 

192.  What  in  summer? 

193.  What  clothes  are  furnished  to  the  convicts  on  their  dis- 
charge? 

194.  W^hat  bedsteads  are  used? 

195.  Of  what  are  the  beds  mado? 

196.  Are  pillow-cases  and  sheets  supplied? 

197.  Is  the  condition  of  the  beds  inspected  daily,  and  if  not, 
how  often? 

198.  What  bed-clothes  are  furnished  in  winter?  What  in 
summer? 

199.  In  what  manner  and  to  what  extent  is  the  prison  supplied 
with  water? 

200.  How  often,  and  where,  are  the  prisoners  required  to  wash 
their  hands  and  face? 

201.  Are  bath-tubs  provided,  and  if  so,  how  often  are  the  pri- 
soners required  to  bathe? 

O**    Is  any  use  made  of  the  flesh-brushi 
;,  ;:     tlow  often  are  the  convicts'  under-clothes  washed? 
IK '  ■    How  often  their  bed-clcthes? 

205.  How  oft°n  are  the  beds  aired  in  the  halls?  How  often  in 
the  sun? 

206.  How  often  are  the  cells  white-washed?  How  often  the 
prison  walls. 

207.  How  often  are  the  cells  scrubbed? 

208.  Are  vermin  ever  found  in  the  cells? 

209.  If  yes,  what  means  are  found  most  successful  in  extermi- 
nating thorn? 

210.  How  often  and  by  whom  are  the  convicts  shaved? 

211.  How  often  and  by  whom  is  their  hair  cut? 

212.  Are  night  tubs  used? 

213.  Of  what  material  made? 

214.  What  arrangement  is  there  for  emptying  and  cleansing 
them? 

215.  What  provisions  for  satisfying  the  calls  of  nature  in  thc^ 
day  time? 

216.  What  arc  the  prevailing  diseases? 

217.  HoAV  far  contracted  before  and  how  far  after  impi'isonment? 

218.  What  are  the  most  active  causes  of  disease?  Have  miasms 
been  generated  within  the  prison  walls? 

219.  What  trades  are  found  to  be  most  injurious  to  health? 

220.  Do  the  men  on  the  ground  tier  of  cells  suffer  more  from 
ill-health  than  those  on  the  upper  tiers? 

221.  Is  the  ground  floor  found  to  be  more  productive  of  heart 


28 


PRISONS  AND  REFORMATORIES  OP  THE 


'-'Sf, 


disease  and  rheumatism,  and  the  upper  floors  of  pulraoiiary  com- 
pbiints? 

222.  Which  class  yield  most  easily  to  treatment,  those  who 
have  been  coniined  a  long  time  or  a  short  time? 

223.  Do  convicts  who  work  in  the  State  shop,  the  kitchen  and 
the  hall,  lyive  better  or  worse  health  than  those  who  work  for 
contractors? 

224.  What  is  the  average  daily  percentage  of  convicts  in  the 
hospital? 

25?o.  What  is  the  average  percentage  of  convicts  for  whom 
daily  prescriptions  are  made? 

226.  What  diseases  are  most  frequently  simulated,  and  what 
1 2sts  are  employed  to  detect  sinuilating? 

227.  Wiiat  arc  the  hospital  accommodations? 

228.  Who  couitiuite  the  hospital  staff? 
5?-29.  What  diet  is  provided  for  the  sick? 

230.  What  perceniagc  of  prisoners  died  last  year? 

231.  What  precautions  are  taken  to  procure  pure  medicines? 

232.  What  is  the  supply  of  surgical  instruments? 

2'A'd.  Arc  any  insane  convicts  received  into  the  prison,  and  if 
any,  what  proportion? 

234.  Do  any  become  insane  after  entering,  and  if  anj',  what 
proportion? 

235.  What  arc  the  regulations  for  testing  insanity? 

236.  Are  there  State  conmiissions  of  insanity? 

237.  If  so,  how  often  do  they  visit  the  prison? 
2^8.  Whafr  disposition  is  made  of  insane  criminals? 

-  239.  To  Avhat  extent  is  self-abuse  practised  in  V  e  prison? 

240.  To  what  cause  is  it  believed  to  be  traceabic? 

241.  What  efforts,  if  any,  have  been  made  to  diminish  the  evil, 
and  with  what  results? 

242.  What  remedial  agencies  can  be  suggested  toward  its  cure? 

243.  What  is  the  effect  of  long  imprisonment  on  iiealth? 

XI.   The  Industries  of  the  Prison, 

244.  On  what  principle  is  the  labor  of  the  prison  organized — 
on  what  is  called  the  contract  system,  or  some  other  phiu? 

245.  If  on  the  contract  system,  in  Avhat  nuinner  is  the  labor  of 
the  prisoners  let  out? 

v»   246.  Hf>Av  many  and  what  contracts  arc  there  at  present  in  the 
prison? 

247.  How  many  men  on  each,  and  what  wages  per  day  are  paid 
on  the  contracts  severally  ? 

248.  IIovv  many  convicts  are  employed  on  account  of  the  State, 
nnd  in  what  (lepartnients  of  labor?     Give  the  numl)er  in  each? 

245*.  Wliat  has  been  found  to  be  the  effect  of  different  kinds  of 
labor  on  health? 

250.  How  many  hours  do  the  prisoners  labor  in  winter? 

251.  How  many  in  summer? 


UNITED   STATES  AND   CANADA. 


29 


252.  What  are  the  average  hours  of  labor  throughout  the  year? 

253.  How  many  and  what  agents  are  employed  in  the  prison 
by  the  contractors? 

254.  ^Vhat,  in  general,  is  the  character  of  these  agents? 

255.  What  is  found  to  be  their  influence  on  the  prisoners? 
25G.  What  is  the  aggregate  amount  of  salaries  paid  by  con- 
tractors to  their  agents? 

257.  May  contractors  bring  citizens  into  the  prison  as  laborers? 

258.  Arc  contractors  allowed  to  supply  prisoners  with  tobacco, 
fruits,  candies,  or  other  eatables? 

259.  If  not  allowed,  do  they  or  their  agents,  or  both,  in  fact, 
supply  those  things  to  the  convicts  in  an  underhand  way,  and  if 
so,  to  Avhat  extent? 

260.  Have  the  contractors  any  control  of  the  prisoners,  or  any 
power  of  punishment? 

261.  What  proportion  of  contract  men  are  paid  for  as  able- 
bodied? 

262.  Are  the  contractors  allowed  to  select  their  own  men,  or 
must  they  take  w  hat  are  assigned  them? 

263.  Are  the  prisoners  consulted  as  to  their  preferences? 

264.  What  trades,  if  any,  are  preferred  by  the  men? 

265.  Is  it,  or  not,  stipulated  that  they  shall  learn  all  parts  of 
the  trade  .at  which  they  work? 

266.  What  proportion  of  the  convicts  enter  the  prison  without 
havii  /  learned  a  trade? 

267.  What  percentage  of  these  actually  learn  a  trade  while  in 
prison? 

268.  Is  it  made  a  distinct  object  of  the  prison  arrangement  to 
teach  a  full  trade  to  those  who  had  never  learned  one? 

269.  Would  the  reformation  of  the  prisoners  be  likely  to  be 
advantageously  affected  by  giving  greater  prominence  to  this  ob- 
ject than  is  done  at  present? 

270.  What  contracts  are  believed  to  realize  the  largest  profits? 

271.  What  are  the  (known  or  supposed)  total  annual  profits 
reali^jd  by  contractors  through  the  labor  of  the  convicts? 

272.  Do  contractors  ever  suffer  loss  through  their  contracts? 

273.  If  yes,  what  is  the  usual  course  of  things  consequent 
thereupon?  Do  the  contractors  pocket  the  loss,  or  do  they  seek 
and  obtain  relief  and  indemnity  therefor  from  the  state? 

274.  Might  not  a  warden,  of  competent  Inisiness  abilities  and 
experience,  manage  the  industries  of  the  prison  so  as  to  make  as 
much  out  of  the  labor  of  the  convicts  as  the  contractors;  thus 
secui'ing  the  profits  to  the  GUte,  instead  of  to  individuals? 

2<5.  If  not,  why  not? 

276.  If  yes,  ought  not  the  contract  system  to  be  abolished  on 
this  ground  alone? 

277.  To  what  abuses  is  the  contract  system  most  liable,  and 
what  iiave  been  found  to  have  crept  in  under  it? 


so 


PRISONS  mJ>  REFORMATORIES   OF  THE 


278.  Is  the  contract  system  fouud  to  affect  the  discipline  unfavor- 
ably? 

279.  Docs  it,  or  not,  exert  an  influence  unfavorable  to  the  re- 
formation of  prisoners? 

280.  If  the  two  foregoing  interrogatories  are  answered  in  the 
affirmative,  ought  they  not  to  be  regarded  as  decisive  against  the 
continuance  of  the  contract  system,  if  even  a  diminished  revenue 
accrue  to  the  state  from  the  labor  of  convicts  in  consequence  of 
such  discontinuance? 

281.  Is  not  reformation  the  pnmari/  object,  and  supposing  that 
result  attained  at  whutev cv  ju'enent  cost,  would  not  ultimate  j;ecw- 
niari/  gain  thereby  accrue  to  the  State? 

282.  Is  overwork  allowed? 

283.  If  so,  how  is  it  regulated?  Are  all  permitted  to  do  it,  or 
do  the  contractors  select  such  men  as  they  please  for  this  service? 

284.  Do  the  contractors  or  the  prison  authorities  fix  the  tariff 
of  prices  to  be  allowed  for  overwork? 

285.  What  is  the  compensation  actually  paid  for  overwork? 

286.  Is  the  price  of  overwork  paid  to  the  prisoners,  or  to  the 
officers  on  their  account? 

287.  Do  the  prisoners  receive  any  interest  on  their  accumulations? 

288.  Are  they  allowed  to  draw  out  any  of  their  surplus  earnings 
while  in  the.prison,  or  mus>t  they  wait  for  them  till  their  discharge? 

289.  Is  overwork  found  to  be,  in  any  case,  prpju.licial  to  the 
health  of  those  who  do  it? 

290.  What  is  thought,  on  the  wh(»le,  to  lie  the  influence  of  the 
system  of  overwork,  jis  at  present  managed? 

XII.  Security  of  the  Pnson. 

Is  the  prison  regarded  as  secure,  or  otherwise? 
How  many  convicts  have  escaped  during  the  last  ten  yeai'S? 
In  what  waj^s? 

Are  any  special  causes  for  the  desire  to  escape  known  to 
have  existed? 

295.  Wsis  anything  observed  in  the  prisoners  piior  to  their 
escape  which  caused  a  suspicion  that  they  meditated  the  attempt? 

296.  Had  there  been,  in  any  case,  a  change  in  the  treatment  of 
the  prisoner  which  may  have  stimulated  him  to  escape? 

297.  Has  there  ever  been  any  complicity,  known  or  suspected, 
on  the  part  of  subordinate  officers,  with  prisoners  who  have  escaped? 

XIII.  Refornmtory  Results. 

298.  What  are  the  several  reformatory  influences  brought  to 
bear  upon  the  convicts  during  their  imprisonment? 

299.  What  means  are  used  by  the  prison  authorities,  by  the 
State,  or  by  benevolent  individuals,  to  procure  situations  for  the 
convicts  on  their  discharge? 

300.  How  far  have  such  efforts  been  successful? 

301.  Are  any  eftbrts  made  to  trace  convicts  after  their  discharge? 

302.  If  yes,  with  what  success,  and  what  are  the  results  shown? 


291. 
292. 
293. 
294. 


UNITED  STATES  AND  CANADA. 


31 


303.  What  has  been  the  percentage  of  the  le-convicted  to  the 
•whole  number  of  prisoners  for  the  last  ten  years? 

304.  What  evidences  of  reformation  do  the  prisoners  exhibit 
while  still  in  confinement? 

305.  What  proofs  of  reformation  are  exhibited  by  convicts 
after  their  discharge? 

XIV.  Pardons. 

306.  What  is  the  whole  number  of  convicts  avIio  have  been  in 
the  prison  during  the  last  ten  years? 

307.  The  whole  number  pardoned? 

308.  The  whole  number  sentenced  for  life? 

309.  The  number  of  life-men  pardoned? 

310.  Average  imprisonment  of  life-men  pardoned? 

311.  What  is  the  whole  number  sentenced  for  live  years  and 
less  than  ten? 

312.  How  many  of  these  were  pardoned? 

313.  Their  average  imprisonment? 
Whole  number  sentenced  for  ten  years  and  less  than  fifteen? 
How  many  of  this  class  were  pardoned? 
Their  average  imprisonment? 
Whole  number  sentenced  for  fifteen  years  and  less  than 

twenty? 

318.  How  many  of  these  were  pardoned? 

319.  Their  average  imprisonment? 
Whole  number  sentenced  for  twenty  years  and  over? 
How  many  of  these  were  pardoned? 
Thoir  average  imprisonment? 
How  extensively  is  the  hope  of  pardon   enteiiained  by 

convicts? 

324.  What  is  the  effect  of  this  hope  on  the  prisoners?  Does  it 
tend  to  unsettle  their  minds,  to  render  them  restless,  and  to  pre- 
vent or  impede  earnest  efforts  at  reformation? 

325.  Has  the  pardoning  power  been  heretofore  too  freely  exer- 
cised? 

326.  Is  it  exercised  less  or  more  frequently  now  than  formerly', 
or  about  the  same?     What  do  the  statistics  on  this  subject  show? 

327.  Ought  some  limitations  to  be  placed  upon  the  pardcming 
power?     If  yes,  what  limitations  would  be  practicable  and  expe 
dient? 

328.  Would  a  Board  of  Pardon,  to  aid  the  Executive  by  examin- 
ing applications  for  his  clemency,  be  advisable,  or  is  it  better  to 
leave  the  matter  as  it  now  is  in  most  of  our  states? 

329.  Would  it  be  expedient  to  enact  a  law  that  a  new  crime, 
after  a  pardon,  should  work  a  forfeiture  of  the  pardon,  and  remand 

'tlie  prisoner  back  to  his  former  punishment? 

■XV.  Nature  of  C^nminality. 

330.  What  has  been  the  percentage  of  convictions  for  crime 
against  property  for  the  la^st  ten  years? 


314. 
315. 
316. 
317. 


320. 
321. 
322. 
323. 


82 


PRISONS  AND  RFFORMATORIES  OF  THE 


331.  Whiit  the  percentage  (f  convictions  for  crimes  against 
person? 

332.  What  the  percentage  of  convictions  for  forgery? 

333.  Hon'  many  execntions  have  taken  place  in  the  last  ten 
years? 

XVI.  Length  of  Sentences. 

334.  What  hjw  been  the  average  length  of  sentences  for  crimes 
against  property  during  the  last  ten  years? 

335.  What  for  crimes  against  person? 

33(5.  Is  there  any  great  variation  between  the  terms  of  sentence 
awarded  for  the  same  offence  by  different  judges,  or  by  the  same 
judge  at  different  times?     If  so,  illustrate  by  cases. 

337.  What  is  ol)served  to  be  the  effect,  generally,  of  an  im- 
prisoimient  of  ten  years  or  more  upon  the  physical,  mental,  and 
moral  condition  of  prisoners  who  iiave  been  confined  for  that 
length  of  time? 

338.  Which  would  ))e  likelv  to  be  most  beneficial  to  convicts, 
so  far  jis  their  reformation  is  concerned — sentences  of  moderate 
length,  Avith  the  cei'tainly  that  they  must  be  served  out,  or  sen- 
tences of  greater  length,  with  the  hope  that  they  may  be  abridged 
by  pardon?  ^ 

XVII.  Dischmyes. 

339.  What  is  the  whole  number  of  discharges  for  the  last  ten 
years? 

340.  IIow  many  have  been  discharged  by  expiration  of  sentence? 

341.  IIow  many  by  death? 

342.  IIoAv  many  by  pardon? 

343.  How  many  have  been  removed  because  of  insanity? 

344.  How  many  have  escaped? 

345.  How  many  have  been  discharged  in  other  ways,  and  what 
are  those  ways,  if  known? 

XVIII.  Ages  of  Convicts. 

346.  What  is  the  whole  number  imprisoned  during  the  last  ten 
3'ears? 

347.  How  many  were  under  twenty  years  of  age,  when  sentenced? 

348.  How  many  were  twenty,  and  under  thirty? 

349.  Ho'v  many  <>  ere  thirty,  and  under  forty? 

350.  How  many  were  forty,  and  under  fifty? 

351.  How  many  were  fift\',  and  under  sixty? 

352.  Hew  many  were  sixty,  and  over? 

XIX..  Recommittals. 

353.  What  is  the  whole  number  of  prisoners  who  haive  been 
discharged  within  the  last  ten  years? 

354.  Of  these,  how  many  returned  as  recomraittod? 


UNITED  STATES  AND  CANADA. 


S3 


XX.  liace. 

355.  Whole  number  imprisoned  in  the  last  ton  years? 

356.  How  many  white? 

357.  How  many  coloretl? 

358.  How  many  Indian'' 

359.  How  many  of  other  races? 

XXI.  Nativity. 

3(50.  How  many  of  native  birth  have  been  imprisoned  within 
the  last  ten  years? 

301.  How  many  of  foreign  birth? 

XXII.  Social  Itelations. 

362.  How  many  of  the  convicts  for  the  last  ten  years  have  been 
married? 

303.  How  many  unmarried? 

304.  How  many  Avidoued? 

305.  How  many  have  had  children? 

XXIII.  Education. 
How  many  of  the  convicts  for  the  last  ten  years  could  not 


360. 
read? 
307. 
308. 
309. 


How  many  could  read  only? 
How  many  could  read  and  write? 
How  many  had  a  superior  education? 

XXIV.  3foral  Condition. 


370.  How  many  convicts,  for  the  last  ten  years,  have  claimed  to 
be  total  abstinents? 

371.  How  many  have  claimed  to  be  temperate? 

372.  How  many  have  acknowledged  themselves  intemperate? 

373.  What  proportion  of  those  claiming  to  be  temperate  might 
be  fairly  adjudged  intemperate? 

374.  What  proportion  did  not  attend  Sabbath  school,  or  at- 
tended irregularly,  in  youth? 

375.  What  proportion  of  female  convicts  were  prostitutes? 
370.  What  proportion  of  male  convicts  had  associated  with 

loose  women? 

377.  What  proportion  were  not  in  the  habit  of  attending  church? 

378.  What  proportion  had  gambled,  less  or  more? 

379.  What  proportion  had  been  theatre-goers? 

XXV.  Orphanage. 

380.  What  proportion  of  convicts  for  the  last  ten  years  have 
been  full  orphans? 

381.  What  proportion  half  orphans? 

[Assem.  No.  35.J  3 


PRISONS  AND  REFORMATORIKS  OF  THE 

XXVI.  Sex. 

382.  What  is  tho  whole  niiinl)oi'  of  uioii  confined  in  tlic  prison 
for  the  last  ton  yi-arn? 

38IJ.  The  whole  minibor  of  women?         » 

384.  If  women  are  not  committed  to  this  prison,  and  there  is  no 
Female  State  prison,  what  nmnber,  Heiiten('e<l  to  other  institntions, 
would  have  been  sent  to  the  State  prison,  had  there  been  one? 

XXVII.  ReliyiouH  Rdatious. 

385.  IIow  many  of  the  convicts,  for  the  last  ten  years,  have  been 
Protestants? 

386.  IIow  many  Roman  Catholics? 

XXVIII.  Industviid  Relations. 

387.  IIow  many  of  the  convicts,  for  the  last  ten  years,  had  not 
learned  a  trade? 

388.  IIow  many  had  learned  a  trade? 

381>.  What  proportion  of  the  latter  chiss  had  acquired  but  an 
imperfect  knowledge  of  their  trade? 

XXIX.  Finances. 

i 

390.  Is  the  prison  self-sustaining?  ' 

392.  If  yes,  how  long  has  it  been  so? 

391.  If  not  self-sustaining  now,  has  it  ever  been,  and  for  how 
long  a  time? 

393.  Why,  if  such  is  the  fact,  has  it  ceased  to  l)e  self-sustaining? 

394.  WJiat  have  been  the  earnings,  and  what  the  expenditures, 
year  by  year,  for  the  last  ten  years? 

395.  IIow  long  has  the  prison  been  in  operation,  and  what 
have  been  the  aggregate  earnings  and  expenditures  for  the  whole 
period? 

39G.  Wiiat  has  been  t!)e  average  cost  per  prisoner  (including 
salaries  and  all  other  expenst  s)  for  the  last  ten  years? 

397.  Wliat  has  beeii  the  lotal  cost  of  ground  and  buildings 
belonging  to  the  prison? 

398.  What  is  the  present  estimated  value  of  the  same? 

399.  Wiiat  was  the  cost  of  the  i)risou  proper,  what  the  number 
of  cells,  and  what  the  cost  of  eavh? 

XXX.  Effect  of  the  War  on  Crime. 

400.  Has  the  number  of  male  convicts  committed  to  the  prison 
been  less  or  greater  during  the  war  than  before? 

401.  If  less,  what  percentage  has  tlu;  dimimition  reached? 

402.  What  are  belicA^ed  to  l)e  the  causes  of  this  (at  least  a^^'pa- 
rent)  diniinuti(m  of  male  crime? 

403.  Has  the  number  of  female  convicts  committed  to  the  prison 
(or  guilt}'  of  State  prison  ofl'ences,  and  committed  to  other  insti- 
tutions) been  less  or  greater  during  the  war  tlian  before? 


UNITED  STATES  AND  CANADA. 


35 


404.  If  greater,  what  porcontago  hm  the  increase  reached? 
40.').  AVhat  arc  l)cli(!ved  to  be  the  causes  of  this  iiicrcaso  of 
female  crime? 

XXXI.    3fi.sc('/I(meous  Inqtiirien. 

40(1.  Is  tliis  prison  conductetl  on  the  congregate  or  separate 
system? 

407.  If  on  the  congregate,  h.is  it  ever  had  inmates  who  liad  pre- 
viously been  imprisoned  under  tlie  other  system? 

40H.  If  yes,  liavi^  they  been  interrogated  as  to  their  preference 
and  tlie  reasons  of  it,  an<l  wliat  answei's  luive  they  given? 

401).  If  the  prison  is  comhicted  on  the  separate  principle,  has  it 
ever  had  inimtes  who  had  before  been  imprisoned  under  the  other 
system? 

410.  If  yes,  have  they  been  interrogated  as  to  their  preference 
and  the  reasons  of  it,  and  what  answers  have  they  given? 

411.  What  reasons  do  re-convicted  prisoners  iwsign  for  their 
relapses? 

412.  Do  any  such  aver  that  greater  severity  while  serving  out 
their  previous  sentence  would  have  been  more  effectual  to  deter 
them  from  crime? 

418.  What  parts  of  the  State  send  the  largest,  proportional 
number  of  convicts? 

414.  What  causes  can  be  assigned  for  this? 

415.  What  arc  believed  to  be  the  most  active  causes  of  crime? 
41G.   What  legislation  is  thought  to  be  required  in  order  to  a 

more  effective  repression  of  crime? 

417.  By  Avhat  officers  are  the  convicts  conveyed  from  the  jails 
to  the  state  prison? 

418.  On  what  principle  is  the  cost  of  conveyance  regulated — 
on  that  of  a  fee  to  the  officer  charged  with  the  duty,  or  that  of 
Ijaying  tho  actual  cost  and  no  more? 

419.  If  on  the  principle  of  a  fee,  what,  on  an  average,  is  the 
excess  of  the  fee  over  the  actual  cost? 

420.  What  is  the  whole  number  of  convicts  received  into  the 
prison  during  the  last  tow  j'cars,  and  Avhat  the  aggregate  cost  of 
conveying  them?  (If  the  exact  cost  cannot  be  stated,  let  the 
proximate  or  estiuiated  cost  be  given.) 

421.  Is  it  customary  to  weigh  the  prisoners  every  three 
months,  or  at  other  statcul  times? 

422.  If  not,  will  the  authorities  agree  to  have  this  done  in  the 
future,  and  a  record  kept  according  to  the  subjoined  progranmie? 
The  columns  to  be  ruled  Avith  the  folloAving  headings:  1,  Name. 
2.  Weight.  3.  Length  of  time  imprisoned.  4.  Ileiiiht.  5. 
Number  of  tier  of  celb  6.  Uses  tobacco  or  not.  7.  Whether  he 
has  any  hereditary  or  chronic  disease.  8.  Employment  in  prison. 
9.  Age.  10.  Color.  (It  is  believed  that  the  statistics  thus  ob- 
tained Avill  form  the  basis  of  important  deductions  in  penal 
science.) 


36 


PRISONS  AND  REFORMATORIES  OF  THE 


42;^.  What,  if  liny,  Jiro  rogurdoil  jih  tlio  «krccts  of  thin  prison? 

424.  Whiit  Climes  aw  most  common? 

425.  AVImt  im'iwuroM  iiiv  nniMl  for  the  detection  of  crime? 
420.  What  for  its  repression? 

427.  Is  the  iKhninistriifion  of  erimiiml  justice  promot  or  tardy? 

42H.  If  the  hitter,  what  are  th«^  ohstiieles  to  speedy  trials? 

42!'.  What  is  done  with  children  horn  in  the  prison? 

430.  What  «;eneral  improvements  in  i>rison  urrangemeuts  and 

prison  disei))line  can  he  snggested? 

II.    InTEIUMHJATOKIES    IIKLATINO   TO   CoUNTY   JaILS. 

1.  How  many  counties  are  tliere  in  your  state? 

2.  What  is  the  number  of  county  jails? 

3.  Is  it,  in  any  case,  desirable  to  have  more  than  one  jail  in  a 
county,  or  is  one  in  all  cases  sufficient? 

4.  What  are  the  grounds  of  your  opinion? 

5.  Is  there  any  central  authority  which  has  the  general  control 
of  the  whole  system  of  county  jails? 

C.  If  yes,  what  is  it,  how  constitute<l,  and  what  results  are 
reached  through  its  agency? 

7.  If  there  is  no  central  governing  power,  what  local  authori- 
ties have  chargi^  of  the  jails? 

8.  In  this  cas<>,  is  there  anything  like  uniformity  in  the  man- 
agement of  the  jails  throughout  the  state? 

!).  Is  a  uniform  system  desirable,  and  what  evils,  if  any,  are 
believed  to  How  from  the  want  of  uniformity? 

10.  Are  the  .statistics  of  the  jails  keji;  with  any  considerable 
degree  of  fullness  and  accuracy,  including  the  commitments  and 
their  causes,  the  discharges  and  their  methods,  and  the  national, 
social,  educational,  industrial,  moral,  and  religious  relations  of  the 
prisoners? 

11.  Is  it  obligatory  on  the  sheriffs  and  jailers  to  keep  statistics 
of  this  kind? 

12.  Is  tlu're  a  set  of  books,  having  uniform  headings  and  rul- 
ings, with  wliich  all  the  jails  are  furnished? 

13.  If  the  three  foreyfoiniir  interroffatories  are  answered  in  the 
negative,  to  what  extent  and  in  what  manner  are  the  statistics  of 
the  jails  made  matter  of  record? 

14.  Do  the  jail-l)()oks  belong  to  the  counties,  or  are  they  the 
property  of  the  sheriffs? 

15.  Are  returns  of  jail  statistics  required  to  be  made  to  any 
state  officer  or  state  board? 

16.  What  has  been  the  annual  numbtn*  of  commitments  (omit- 
ting only  desertions  from  the  army)  for  the  huit  ten  years,  or  any 
less  number  of  j^cars,  covered  by  the  records,  distinguishing  be- 
tween males  and  females,  and,  if  possible,  between  white  and 
colored? 

17.  W^hat  ha.s  been  the  average  daily  number  in  all  the  jails? 


UNITED  STATES  ANI)>  CANAfiA. 


37 


18.  What  1ms  Imhmi  the  vttW'i  of  i'  niir  on  inul«  crime — is  the 
iiuinlx'i'  of  in(>n  (.'on.unittiHl  grcuuu' v  v  Ichs  tiinco  than  lu^t'oro  itn 
coiniiiciuTiin'Jil? 

1!».  VVlmt  has  ln'cn  iho  ixTccntajrc  of  incrraso  or  (liinliiiition? 

20.  AVliat  lias  Ik'(Mi  the*  cfU'C!!  of  flir  \\»ir  on  frnialo  (rime — is 
the  miiiibcr  of  women  commiftcd  •greater  or  U'hh  since  (lian  before 
its  <'oiiiniencenient? 

21.  What  has  l)cen  the  p(>reentajre  of  inerease  or  diminution? 

22.  Wliat  proportion  of  prisoners  are  re-connnittais? 
2.'{.  What  proportion  are  forei^rners? 

24.  What  proportion  were  orplians  or  half-orphans  before  the 
ii<je  (tf  fifteen? 

25.  What  i)roportion  could  not  read? 

20.  Of  those  n'corded  as  al)Ui  to  read,  are  there,  or  not,  many 
wlio  liave  but  an  imperfect  mast(!ry  of  the  art? 

27.  Wliat  proportion  of  the  prisoners  are  intemperate? 

2H.  What  proportion  have  not  learned  a  tra';e? 

2J>.  Wliat  proportion  di«l  not  attend  Sunday-school  in  y(  nth? 

80.  Wliat  proportion  of  female  prisoners  are  prostitues'' 

in.  What  proportion  of  male  prisoners  hav  associxtod  with 
loose  women? 

ii2.  What  proportion  have  gambled? 

',V6.  What  proportion  have  been  theatre-ofoers? 

34.  What  proportion  are  Sabbath-breakers? 

35.  What  proportion  of  those  committed  tothccouity 


ail 


(Ills  are 


])rought  to  trial? 


3(5.  What  proportion  arc  convicted  on  trial? 

37.  What  proi)ortion  are  convicteil  on  confession? 

38.  What  proportion  of  the  whole  number  of  prisoners  con- 
fined in  the  county  jails  are  undergoing  sentences  of  imprison- 
ment? 

39.  What  ]s  the  average  length  of  sentences  in  the  county  jails? 

40.  Is  the  system  of  tteparate  iinprisonment  adopted  tor  the 
county  jails? 

41.  If  yes,  how  effectually  is  it  enforced? 

42.  If  not,  is  there  any  system  of  classification  of  the  priscmers; 
and  if  so,  on  M'hat  principle  and  how  effeclu,]-/  enforced? 

43.  If  there  is  neither  separate  imprisoiiiij^jut  nor  classification, 
do  the  prisoners  sleep  in  separate  cells,  or  in  common  sleepin«>-- 
rooms? 

44.  Is  there  any  imprisonment  for  debt,  and  if  so,  under  what 
circumstances? 

45.  Are  there  many  cases  of  such  imprisonment? 

40.  Are  witnesses  ever  imprisoned  to  secure  their  testimony? 

47.  If  yes,  are  they  compensated  for  the  time  lost  by  their  im- 
prisonment? 

48.  Are  prisoners  of  all  classes  and  ages  associated  together 
during  the  daytime? 

49.  If  so,  is  this  thought  to  be  a  good  or  a  bad  plan? 


,tu| 


38 


PRISONS  AND  BEFORM  A  TOBIES  OF  THE 


! 


50.  If  bail,  what  aro  the  evils  resulting  from  it? 

51.  AVould  separate  imprisomneiit,  or  Avoiild  it  not,  be  expe- 
dient in  conniion  jails? 

52.  What  are  the  gronnds  of  your  opinion? 

53.  Would  it,  or  not,  be  a  good  plan  to  make  the  jails  simply 
houses  of  detention  for  prisoners  awaiting  trial,  and  to  have  a 
system  of  prisons  intermediate  between  the  jails  and  the  state 
prison,  in  which  all  persons  convicted  of  minor  oflences  sh(mld 
be  sentenced  to  hard  labor? 

54.  On  what  grounds  is  your  opinion  held? 

55.  In  Avhat  way  are  the  keepers  of  the  jails  rennmerated — l)y 
fees  on  the  reception  of  prisoners,  or  by  salaries? 

56.  Which  of  these  methods  is  believed  to  be  best,  and  Avhy? 

57.  How  is  food  provided  for  the  prisoners — do  the  counties 
pay  th(>  actual  cost,  or  is  a  certain  sum  per  week  allowed  the  sherift' 
for  bouniing  tlicm,  so  that  he  is  tiiercby  enabled  to  make  profit 
out  of  the! I"  board? 

58.  Which  of  the  above  plans  is  in  itself  the  prefci-able  one, 
and  Avliy? 

5!>,  Is  clothing  supi)lied  to  prisoners  Avho  may  need  it? 

(50.  How  is  medical  attendance  paid  for — by  salaries  or  fees? 

()1.  What  is  (a!)out)  the  aggregate  amount  paid  for  medicines 
iuul  medical  attendance  for  the  whole  state? 

(32.  What  is  the  average  annual  cost  (proximate,  if  not  exact)  of 
each  prisoner  to  the  counties,  incbuling  all  expenses  other  than  the 
interest  on  the  value  of  the  real  estate  belonging  to  the  jails? 

6i).  \Vhat  is  the  estimated  aggi'cgate  value  (proximate,  if  not 
exact)  of  the  I'eal  estate  Itclonging  to  all  the  jails  of  the  state? 

04.  What  is  the  annual  cost  of  each  prisoner,  with  the  interest 
on  the  real  estate  added  to  the  other  ex[)enses? 

(>.').  Are  the  prisoners  provided  with  any  renumerative  employ- 
ments, and  if  so,  whiit? 

()().  If  not,  would  it  be  desirable  and  practicable  to  provide 
employment  for  them? 

(!7.  Aie  lil)raries  provided  for  the  use  of  the  prisoners  in  the 
jails? 

(JH.  If  not,  would  it  not  be  desirable  that  some  provision  of  this 
kind  should  l)e  made? 

(ii>.  Is  there  any  provision  for  imparting  secular  instruction  to 
prisoners  who  need  it? 

70.  Are  the  jails  generally  provided  with  chaplains  ? 

71.  If  not,  what  provision,  if  any,  is  made  to  meet  the  moral 
and  religious  wants  of  the  prisimers  ? 

72.  If  !io  provision  is  made  by  the  authorities,  is  the  lack,  thence 
arising,  supplied,  to  any  extent,  by  vohmteer  eflbrt  on  the  part  of 
ministers  and  i)rivate  christians  ;  and  if  so,  how  far? 

78.  Are  Bibles  supplied  to  the  jails  ;  if  so,  at  whose  expense, 
and  how  v»xtensively  ? 


UNITED  STATES  AND  CANADA. 


39 


74.  When  the  prisoners  are  supplied  with  Bibles  and  other 
books,  how  do  they  use  them — carefully  or  otherwise  ? 

75.  Whiit  us  to  the  prison  dietary— is  there  a  uniform  bill  of 
fare  throughout  the  counties,  or  does  each  jail-keeper  provide 
according  to  his  own  fancy  ? 

7(}.  If  the  latter,  is  it  the  practice  for  each  to  have  a  regular 
bill  of  fare  for  his  own  prison,  or  does  he  vary  from  day  to  day, 
ad  Ubiium  ? 

11.  What  is  the  general  character  of  the  dietary  pro  ided  for 
the  prisoners  ? 

7b.  Are  the  jails,  as  a  general  thing,  Avell  or  ill-constructed  in 
respect  to  ventilation? 

79.  How  as  to  the  admission  of  light — are  they  well-lighted  or 
otherwise  ? 

80.  What  diseases  are  most  prevalent  in  the  jails?  .    ... 

81.  What  percentage  of  the  i)risoners  die  ? 

82.  AVhat  is  the  condition  of  the  jails  generally  as  to  cleanliness? 

83.  How  often  are  they  scrubbed  ? 

84.  How  often  whitewashed  ? 

85.  Arc  means  of  bathing  provided  for  the  prisoners  ? 

8G.  What  punishments  are  employed  to  subdue  refractory 
prisoners  ? 

87.  Arc  puuishmcnts  often  necessary  ? 

88.  How  far  are  moral  means  used  to  secure  good  conduct  ? 

89.  How  otfectually  is  the  separation  of  the  sexes  secured  ? 

90.  Are  many  insane  prisoners  received  into  the  jails  ? 

91.  What  disposition  is  made  of  insane  prisoners? 

92.  Are  the  jails  generally  regarded  as  secure  or  otherwise  ? 

93.  What  are  believed  to  be  the  most  active  causes  of  crime  in 
your  state  ? 

94.  Are  the  jails  themselves,  on  the  whole,  thought  to  be 
repressive  or  promotive  of  crime  ? 

95.  If  the  latter,  what  modifications  of  the  system  would  be 
likely  to  work  a  reform  in  this  respect  ? 

9(5.  Arc  sheriffs  appointed,  or  elected,  in  your  state  ? 

97.  If  elected,  are  they  reeligibic  to  successive  terms  of  office  ? 

98.  If  yes,  are  they,  Jis  a  matter  of  fact,  often  reelected  ? 

99.  Are  jail  officers  often  changed  in  your  state  ? 

100.  If  yes,  what  is  found  to  bo  the  effect,  and  is  not  greater 
permanence  in  the  tenure  of  office  desirable  ? 

101.  Is  there  any  provision  of  law  for  the  stated  inspection  of  jails? 

102.  If  so,  what  is  it,  and  is  the  said  provision,  in  point  of  fact, 
generally  complied  vdth  ? 

III.  Inteiiuogatories  Relating  to  Houses  of  Correction,  &c. 

1.  Is  there  in  your  state  a  system  of  prisons  intermediate  between 
the  state  prisons  and  the  county  jails  ? 

2.  If  SO;  what  is  their  designation — penitentiaries,  workhouses, 
houses  of  correction,  or  some  other  name? 


40 


PRISONS  AND  REFORMATORIES  OP  THE 


H: 


3.  Do  Ihosp  institutions  constitute  a  system  for  the  whole  state, 
or  are  they  local  and  exceptional? 

4.  If  for  the  Avhole  Mtate,  are  they  found  in  every  county,  and 
are  they  carried  on  in  connection  with  the  county  jails,  or  are  they 
separate  organizations? 

5.  If  each  county  has  one  of  this  class  of  prisons,  and  if  they 
are  managed  in  connection  with  the  jails,  is  this  thought  to  be  the 
most  desirable  arrangement,  or  would  it  be  better  (and  if  yes, 
why?)  to  have  one  such  institution  conunon  to  several  counties? 

G,  If  there  are  penitentiaries  or  houses  of  correction  in  your 
state,  which  are  merely  local,  and  do  not  form  part  of  any  gene- 
ral system,  would  it  not  be  expedient  to  have  such  prisons  organ- 
ized on  a  general  plan,  and  formed  into  a  general  system  under 
state  authority  and  supervision?    And  if  yes,  upon  what  grounds? 

7.  What  numl)er  of  penitentiaries  or  houses  of  correction  are 
there  in  the  state? 

8.  Are  they  under  any  general  administrative  authority,  or  is 
each  suliject  only  to  a  local  administration? 

9.  What  and  how  constituted  is  the  governing  power? 

10.  What  officers  compose  the  prison  stalls  in  these  institutions? 

11.  What  is  the  aggregate  amount  of  salaries  paid  to  these 
officers? 

12.  Do  party  politics  enter  as  an  element,  and  if  so,  how  far, 
into  the  government  of  these  prisons? 

13.  Is  there  any  authority,  outside  of  the  immediate  governing 
powers  of  the  prisons,  charged  with  the  duty  of  inspection,  for  the 
purpose  of  holding  these  powers  to  their  just  responsibility? 

14.  What  punishments  are  employed?  Phnunerate  all.  State 
particularly  whether  the  lash  or  the  shower-bath  is  ever  used. 

15.  How  far  are  moral  agencies  used  as  a  means  of  discipline? 
1().  AVhich  method,  on  the  whole,  is  found  most  etlective — 

severity  or  kindness? 

17.  Is  there  a  commutation  law  in  the  state;  and  if  so,  does  it 
apply  to  prisoners  in  these  institutions? 

18.  If  yes,  what  is  found  to  be  its  operation — beneficial  or 
otherwise? 

10.  What  are  the  offences  for  which  punishments  are  most  fre- 
quently inflicted? 

20.  Has  death  or  permanent  injury  ever  been  known  to  result 
from  any  ixuiishment  inflicted  in  these  prisons?  . 

21.  Do  the  prisoners  sleep  in  separate  cells  or  in  common  sleep- 
insr  rooms? 

22.  Is  the  law  of  r  ence  imposed  on  them  while  at  work? 

23.  If  j^'S,  how  effectually  is  it  enforced? 

24.  Is  there  a  distinctive  prison-dress? 

2i).  Are  chaj)lains  provided  for  this  cIjuss  of  prisons? 
2(5.  If  so,  what  rennmeration  do  they  receive? 

27.  Do  they  give  their  Avhole  time  to  the  prisoners? 

28.  What  are  their  duties? 


f  1 


UNITED  STATES  AND  CANADA. 


41 


29.  Are  Sabbath  schools  held  in  these  prisons? 

30.  Are  Bibles  supplied  to  the  prisoners;  and,  if  so,  to  what 

extent? 

31.  jMi<jht  the  religions  element  be  advantageously  made  more 

prominent  than  it  iis? 

32.  Is  anything  done— and  if  anything,  what? — to  procure  places 
for  discharged  prisoners,  and  so  to  prevent  their  relapse?  , 

33.  Is  secular  instruction  given  to  the  prisoners? 

34.  If  so,  in  what  way,  and  to  what  extent? 

35.  AVhat  proportion  of  the  prisoners  cannot  read  when  they 
are  received? 

30.  Arc  these  prisons  provided  with  libraries? 

37.  If  so,  how  extensive  are  these  -ii.'-aries? 

38.  At  whose  cost  provided? 

39.  What  is  the   general   character  of  the   dietaries  of  these 

prisons? 

40.  Where  do  the  prisoners  take  their  meals — in  their  cells,  or 
in  a  common  dining  hall? 

41.  How  are  supplies  procured — by  contract,  or  otherAvise? 

42.  What  clothes  are  furnished  to  the  prisoners  on  their  dis- 
charge? 

43.  Is  any  money  given  them  on  their  discharge;  and  if  so,  how 

much? 

44.  What  are  the  pi-evailing  diseases?  • 

45.  What  is  the  percentage  of  deaths? 

46.  Is  the  labor  of  these  prisons  organized  upon  the  contract 
system? 

47.  If  yes,  what  is  believed  to  be  its  influence  on  the  discipline? 

48.  What  proportion  of  the  prisoners  had  not  learned  a  trade 
before  their  incarceration? 

49.  What  percentage  of  these  learn  a  trade  while  in  prison? 

50.  Are  the  piisons  of  this  class  generally  regarded  as  secure? 

51.  How  many  convicts  escaped  from  them? 

52.  Is,  or  is  not,  the  reformation  of  the  prisoners  made  the 
prominent  obJG(!t? 

53.  AVhat  is  the  percentage  of  recommitted  prisoners? 

54.  What  is  the  average  length  of  sentences  of  the  prisoners 
confined  in  these  institutions? 

55.  What  proportion  of  the  per;«ions  received  into  these  prisons 
are  intemperate? 

5G.  What,  so  far  as  the  statistics  of  these  institutions  show,  has 
been  the  etfect  of  the  war  on  male  and  female  crime — to  increase 
or  diminish  either  or  both? 

57.  What  proportion  of  the  prisoners  are  foreigners? 

58.  IIow  do  the  incomes  and  expenditures  of  these  institutions 
compare  with  each  other? 

59.  What  is  the  average  annual  cost  of  each  prisoner,  including 
all  cxi)CnsGS  other  than  interest  on  real  estate? 

GO.  Are  insane  prisoners  ever  received? 


1 


42 


PRISONS  AND  REFORMATORIES  OP  THE 


.SI 


61.  How  is  the  question  of  their  insanity  decided?  ^ 

62.  What  disposition  is  made  of  insane  prisoners? 

63.  What  is  the  average  number  of  prisoners  in  these  insti- 
tutions? , 

IV.  L\tp:uuooatou;  h's  Relating  TO  Jijvemle  Hefohmatories. 

1.  AVhen  was  this  Instituti  >n  founded? 

2.  Was  it  founded  hy  the  authoi'itios  of  the  state  or  city,  or 
by  private  l)enevolei)''o? 

3.  How  are  the  liiiids  for  its  support  obtained? 

4.  What  is  the    x     it  and  arrangement  of  tlie  grounds  belong- 
ing to  the  Institut    n? 

5.  What  are  the  several  l)uildlngs,  their  uses  and  arrange- 
ments? 

(5.  How  many  inmates  will  they  aeconnnodate? 

7.  What  was  the  lOtal  cost  of  the  grounds  and  buildings  be- 
lenging  to  the  Institution? 

8.  Is  the  Institution  governed  1)y  a  board  of  managers,  and  it 
so,  how  is  the  said  board  constituted? 

{).  What  arc  the  powers  and  duties  of  the  board? 
]().  Who  compose  the  statf  of  otKccrs  of  the  Institution? 

11.  Are  children  of  l)oth  sexes  received?  If  so,  are  they  kepi; 
entirely  separate? 

12.  Between  what  ages  are  they  adniissi!)le? 

13.  For  what  causes  may  children  be  received? 

14.  AVhat  authorities  have  power  to  "onnnit  them? 

15.  Are  they  conunitted  foi-  a  specific  tiire,  or  i  idefinitely? 

16.  If  indetinitely,  when  does  tiie  right  of  guardiiMiship  expire? 

17.  AVho  judges  whether  the  child  is  tit  to  leave  the  place  be- 
fore the  time  has  ex[)ired,  to  wliich  the  righ*;  of  guai'dianship 
extends? 

18.  What  are  the  difterent  modes  of  release? 

19.  Is  the  Institution  to  be  regarded  in  the  light  of  a  prison 
or  •»  school,  or  something  intermediate  between  ihe  tv  o? 

20.  What  is  the  character  of  the  discipline — is  it  that  of  a 
prison,  or  otherwise? 

21.  What  are  the  rules  and  regulations  of  the  place? 

22.  What  are  the  proceedings  of  a  day?  Please  state  them 
successively  and  in  detail? 

23.  What  are  the  proceedings  of  a  8abl)a*h? 

24.  Have  the  chibhen  committed  to  this  Institution  any  right 
of  protection  against  the  decision  of  the  functionaries  who  sent 
them  here? 

25.  If  so,  what  is  that  right — may  they  or  their  i)arents  test 
the  legality  of  their  connnitment  or  detention  by  tlie  writ  of 
hafjeo.s  corjHus/ 

26.  Is  this  right,  in  point  of  fact,  ever  exercised? 

27.  Have  the  children  separate  sleei)ing  rooms? 


UNITED  STATES  AND  CANADA. 


48 


28.  Miiy  they  communicate  with  each  other  during  the  day,  or 
is  the  law  of  silonce  enforced? 

29.  How  miicli  of  their  time  do  the  children  spend  in  school? 

30.  Wluit  branches  of  learning  do  they  pursue? 

31.  What  progiess  in  general  is  made  by  them? 

32.  Is  tliere  a  library,  and  if  so,  how  extensive,  and  what  is 
the  general  character  of  the  books? 

33.  Arc?  the  children,  as  a  general  thing,  fond  of  reading,  and 
what  time  do  they  liave  for  it? 

34.  Are  they  all  taught  a  trade? 

35.  What  are  the  ditferent  handicrafts  carried  on  in  the  Insti- 
tution. 

30.  Is  the  labor  of  the  children  let  out  on  the  contract  i^rinci- 
ple,  or  do  they  work  for  the  Ijistitution? 

37.  Has  the  Institution  a  chaplain?  If  so,  how  nuich  of  his 
time  is  given  lo  the  inmates? 

38.  To  wliat  extent  are  elff)rts  made  to  cultivate  the  hearts  of 
the  children,  and  to  inculcate  the  principles  of  religion  and  mo- 
rality? 

3{,».  How  much  importance  is  attached  to  efforts  of  this  kind? 

40.  When  a  youth  is  received  into  the  estal)lishment,  are  any, 
and  if  any,  what  instructions  given  him  as  to  his  future  conduct? 

41.  Are  the  inmates  divided  into  classes  according  to  their  con- 
duct; and  if  so,  how  many  classes  are  there,  and  how  are  the  de- 

,  tails  of  the  classitication  ari'anged? 

42.  How  far  ar(^  the  antecedents  of  the  inmates  recorded? 

43.  How  far  (lieir  histoiy  while  connected  with  the  Institution? 

44.  To  Avhat  extent  and  by  what  means  is  a  knoAvledgo  of  them 
kept  up  after  tiiey  are  i/identured  or  discharged? 

45.  What  [)ro[)ortion  are  reformed,  and  turn  out  well  in  after 
lili"?    AVhat  do  the  statistics  of  the  Institution  show  on  this  subject? 

4(J.  What  proportion  of  those  received  are  orphans  by  the  loss 
of  both  i)arems? 

47.  What  propoi-tion  are  half-orphans? 

48.  Wi'.at  [)roportit)U  have  idle  or  vicious  parents,  by  whose 
neglect  or  ?vil  example  they  have  been  pushed  on  to  crime? 

49.  Whiit  are  the  recreations  of  the  children? 

50.  Are  they  under  supervision  while  at  play? 

51.  Do  the  persons  Avho  have  charge  oi  the  childj'cn  at  such 
times  ever  lak(!  part  in  their  games? 

52.  What  is  the  d;   tary? 

53.  Are  the  inmates  aUoA\ed  any  food  or  drink  beyond  Avhat  is 
jirovided  by  the  Jnstitntion? 

54.  What  altenti<;n  is  given  to  enforcing  cleanliness  upon  the 
children? 

55„  IIo.v  often  are  they  required  to  bathe  the  whole  person? 
5(j.  How  as  to  the  health  of  the  inmates? 

57.  What  percentage  are,  on  on  average,  on  the  sick  list? 

58.  What  percentage  die? 


44 


PRISONS  AND  REFORMATORIES  OF  THE 


59.  AVIiJit  Jirc  the  discasos  most  prevalent? 

(50.  IIou  often  (lor>  the  phy«iei{in  jittcnd? 

Gl.  What  liospital  aceonmiocliitions  are  there? 

62.  What  have  Ik'oh  the  aggregate  annual  earnings  of  the  in- 
mates for  the  laft  ten  years? 

G3.  AVhat  the  aggregate  annual  expenses  for  the  same  period? 

04.  What  has  l)een  the  average  annual  cost  of  eueh  inmate,  in- 
eluding  ail  expenset"  'ilher  than  the  interest  on  *he  real  esiafo  he- 
longing  to  the  Instil 'ition? 

6').  What  has  been  the  average  annual  cost,  iucluiiiMg  the  saitl 
interest? 

GG.  What  is  the  average  period  during  whicli  the  oiuldreu  are 
retained  in  the  Institui  ion? 

67.  What  is  the  average  age  at  which  tiiey  are  rec(Mved? 

6S,  What  is  the  average  age  at  v,  hieh  they  are  discharged? 

69.  AVhat  punishnxnits  arc  employed? 

70.  AVhat  rewards,  if  any,  are  olK'red  as  a  stimulus  to  /jood 
conduct? 

71.  l^  it  customary  to  ]n'(>sent  a  Bible  tu  eailiinmtt'c  onl'  aving? 

72.  ■  t'  so,  is  the  gift  aceompaniod  wilii  counsels,  Avritten  or 
oral,  a^  to  his  future  co'iduct? 

78.  Wlisa  classes  of  boys  are  found  most  ditficult  of  reforma- 
tion?    AViia*:  of  girls? 

7:t.  \\'iiat  does  the  percentage  of  children  reformed  Avho  were 
fittecH  and  over  Avhen  received,  compare  with  the  percentage  of 
those  who  were  less  than  Hfteen  when  they  l>.'came  inmates? 

75.  Does  the  Institution  reserve  the  ri<;ht  of  a  jruardian  over 
those  Avlio  have  been  indentured? 

7(i.  If  an  indentured  youth  leave  his  master,  nnist  he  again  be 
brought  back  to  the  Institution? 

77.  If  this  power  over  the  indentured  belongs  to  the  Institution, 
does  a  like  power  over  those  who  have  gone  out  in  other  ways 
belon<r  to  it  also. 


V.      IXTEUROGATOIUES    KkLATIXG    TO    TTIE    AdMIXISTRATIOX   OF 

Crlmixal  Justice.  , 

1.  What  is  the  judicial  .sy,sie>u  of  your  State?  What  are  the 
several  classes  of  courts,  their  jurisdiction  and  powers? 

2.  Are  the  judges  api)oiuted  or  elected?  If  elected,  how  long 
has  this  system  })revailed?  What  is  found  to  be  its  operation — 
favorable  or  unfavorable  to  the  integrity  and  independence  of  the 
judiciary? 

f^.  AN'hat  are  the  punishments  anne>  cd  to  the  several  crimes  for- 
bidden by  the  law?  Please  make  your  answer  to  this  interroga- 
tory full  and  complete,  embracing  all  the  violations  of  law  recog- 
nized as  crimes? 

4.  AVhen  there  is  a  considerable  range  in  the  punishments 
allowed,  is  there  found  to  be,  in  practice,  a  wide  diversity  in  the 
administration  of  the  law  by  dilferent  judges?     Is  there,  or  not. 


UNITED  STATES  AND  CANADA. 


45 


in  your  jiiclgmeiit,  too  -wide  a  range  in  the  discretion  allowed  to 

judges  ? 

5.  Are  sherifls  appointed  or  elected,  and  for  what  term  ot 
oflScc?  Which,  in  your  opinion,  is  the  best  system?  Is  there  any 
limit  to  their  re-eligibility,  or  may  they  be  re-elected  as  often  as 
their  constituents  choose? 

6.  How  many  justices  of  the  peace  are  there  in  each  township? 
How  are  ihcy  chosen,  and  for  how  long  a  term? 

7.  What  proportion  of  persons  indicted  are,  on  the  average, 
brought  to  trial? 

8.  Of  the  tried,  what  proportion  is  convicted  and  what 
acquitted?  In  what  percentage  of  cases  arc  juries  unable  to 
agree? 

9.  Of  persons  arraigned,  what  proportion  plead  guilty,  and 
are  convicted  on  confession? 

10.  Do  those  who  plead  guilty  generally  plead  to  the  offences 
with  which  they  stand  charged,  or  to  others  of  a  lower  grade?  If 
of  a  lower  grade,  can  you  suggest  any  reason,  connected  with  the 
prosecution  of  the  charge? 

11.  Of  persons  charged  with  homicide,  what  proportion  are  con- 
victed?    What  proportion  executed? 

12.  In  what  classes  of  offences  is  the  disproportion  between  the 
arrested  and  the  convicted  apt  to  be  greatest — those  a  higher  or 
lower  grade? 

13.  What  is  about  the  average  length  of  imprisonment  previous 
to  trial? 

14.  Is  it  found  that  in  offenses  of  a  higher  grade,  convictions, 
when  obtained,  are  frequently  so  long  after  1  he  commission  of  the 
offense,  that  their  moral  effect  is  in  great  mcasn'i'  nullified? 

15.  If  such  delays  occur,  what  are  conceived  to  be  the  causes? 
Is  it  customary  to  send  causes  back  and  forth  between  criminal 
courts  of  different  grades,  as,  for  example,  the  general  sessions  and 
the  oyer  and  terminer? 

16.  Do  the  courts,  or  not,  fail  very  often  to  convict  in  cases 
where  prisoners  are  on  trial  for  crimes  of  a  higher  order? 

17.  If  yes,  what  is  the  effect  of  such  failure  on  the  criminal 
population;  that  is,  those  Avho  follow  crime  as  a  means  of  obtain- 
ing a  livelihood?  Are  the  terrors  of  the  law  found  to  have  much 
of  a  deterrent  effect  upon  this  class  of  persons,  or  not? 

18.  Are  prosecuting  attorneys  appointed  or  elected? 

19.  Is  their  compensation  by  salaries  or  fees? 

20.  If  by  salaries,  what  effect,  if  any,  is  this  found  to  have  upon 
their  fidelity? 

21.  To  what  extent,  in  general,  are  forfeited  recognizances  en- 
forced, and  bail  money  collected? 

22.  How  as  to  justices'  fines — is  there  a  rigid  system  of  account- 
ability here,  or  are  matters  in  this  department  left  at  loose  ends? 
If  the  former,  what  u  the  system?  If  the  latter,  what  remedy 
can  you  suggest?  '     . 


46 


PRISONS  AND  REFORMATORIES   OF  THE 


;.l 


H 


M 


23.  Is  any  special  diro<^tion  given  to  moneys  collected  in  this 
wa}'',  looking  to  some  public  o)>joct  (iis,  for  exuniplc,  the  increase 
of  school  lihr.'irics),  or  do  they  go  into  the  treasury  of  the  county 
for  general  purpohcs? 

24.  Are  policemen  and  constables  found  (o  be  guilty,  to  any 
considerable  extent,  of  corruplion  in  tiie  administration  of  their 
offices? 

25.  Are  witnesses,  who  are  imprisoned  to  secure  their  testimony, 
conlined  Avilh  persons  arrested  for  crime?  Do  they  receive  any 
compensation  for  their  loss  of  time  Avhile  thus  imi)risoned? 

2(5.  Has  the  death  penalty  been  abolished?  If  not,  for  what 
offenses  is  it  inflicted?  If  it  has  been  al)olished,  for  how  long  a 
period  has  the  new  system  been  in  force,  and  what  elleet,  if  any, 
has  it  had  in  incrcasin*;  or  diminishin<;  the  crimes  for  which  it  was 
formerly  inllicted? 

27.  Has  the  method  of  indictment  by  a  grand  jury  been  abol- 
ished in  your  state,  and  if  so,  wliat  system  has  been  substituted  in 
its  place,  and  what  has  i)een  found  to  be  the  operation  of  the  new 
system?  Please  state  your  opinion  on  tin's  point,  and  the  grounds 
of  it.  If  not  abolished,  has  any  attempt  in  that  direction  been 
made? 

28.  Is  there,  or  is  there  not,  found  to  be  any  considerable  variety 
in  the  instructions  given  to  juries  by  different  judges,  Avhen  the 
question  of  insanity  is  at  issue? 

29.  Does  the  exercise  of  the  pardoning  power  unfavorably  affect 
the  administration  of  justice?  Is  this  power  so  often  exercised 
as,  in  your  judgment,  to  constitute  an  abuse  thereof?  AVould  it 
1)0  expcnlient  to  have  this  power  in  anyway  restricted  by  law,  and 
if  so,  what  limitations  would,  in  your  opinion,  be  likely  to  prove 
wise  and  effective? 

30.  Arc  j)ersons  sentenced  for  life  more  frecpientiy  pardoned 
than  those  imprisoned  for  a  term  of  years?  If  yes,  what  is  be- 
lieved to  l)e  the  cause  of  the  ditrerence? 

31.  Is  there  in  your  state  a  system  of  animal  icturns  of  crimi- 
nal statistics?  If  so,  what  are  the  it(>ms  of  information  eml)raced 
in  it,  and  to  what  ofHcer  are  the  returns  made? 

32.  Has  any  code  of  criminal  )iroeedure  been  adopted,  or  does 
the  connnon  law  practice  in  the  main  prevail? 

33.  A\'hat,  in  your  judgment,  if  any,  are  the  defects  in  the  exist- 
ing system  of  criminal  procedure,  antl  what  suggestions  can  you 
offer  on  the  subject  of  improvements  to  l.>e  made  therein? 

Victor  Cousin,  the  eminent  French  philoso[)lier,  having  been, 
man3'^  years  ago,  commissioned  by  his  government  to  examine  the 
school  system  of  Prussia,  in  submitting  the  re[)ort  of  his  observa- 
tions to  the  authoiity  from  which  he  received  his  commission,  with 
a  felicity  of  expression  equal  to  the  patriotism  which  inspired  it, 
exclaimed  :  "  It  is  of  Prussia  that  I  speak,  but  it  is  of  France  that 


UNITED  STATES  AND  CANADA. 


47 


I  think."  In  like  mnnnor,  the  «n«lersi*gne(l,  appointed  to  inquire 
into  the  present  aspect  of  the  prison  question  in  the  severiil  states 
of  our  Union,  while  they  unfold  the  prison  systems  of  those  states, 
iind  spread  before  the  Legislature  and  the  public  the  condition 
and  working  of  their  penal  and  correctional  institutions,  have 
chiefly  in  view,  and  aim  chielly  to  eft'ccl,  tiie  reforms  so  much  needed 
in  our  own  state. 

To  NcAV  York  belongs  the  douI)lc  honor  of  having  given  to  the 
world  a  system  of  prison  discipline — that  known  as  the  Auburn, 
congregate  or  silent  system — and  of  having  originated  the  clasb 
of  institutions  called  indilferently  houses  of  refuge,  reform  schools, 
(fee,  &c.  She  was  the  first  to  adopt,  Avith  efficiency,  the  peniten- 
tiary' system  of  prison  discipline,  and  the  first  to  attempt  the  pre- 
vention of  crime  by  seeking  out  the  youthful  and  unprotected  who 
are  in  the  way  of  temptalion,  rescuing  them  from  vice,  and  ren- 
derin<^  them  valuable  members  of  society,  through  the  agency  of 
religious,  moral  and  intellectual  instruction,  and  by  training  them 
to  industrious  and  orderly  habits.  In  neither  of  these  depart- 
ments of  criminal  administration,  however,  has  our  state  accom- 
plished all  that  could  have  been  desired.  Our  prison  system, 
owing  to  the  undue  influence  of  party  politics  in  its  administration 
and  other  causes,  has  failed  to  attain  that  degree  of  perfection 
which  might  have  been  reasonably  expected  ;  and  the  system  of 
juvenile  reformatories,  though  good  and  effective  as  far  as  it  goes, 
lacks  the  breadth  and  compass,  which  our  great  extent  of  territory 
and  our  large  population,  especially  in  cities,  render  not  only  de- 
sirable but  necessary. 

It  is  to  improve  and  perfect  our  penal  and  reformatory  system, 
to  impress  upon  it  a  character  worthy  of  our  civilization,  to  make 
it  a  model  for  other  States,  and  to  render  it  effective  in  accom- 
plishing the  great  end  of  all  just  prison  discipline, — the  reforma- 
tion of  its  subjects  and  their  restoration  to  civil  life  as  honest  and 
industrious  citizens, — that  the  Prison  Association  has  so  much  at 
heart,  and  that  the  undersigned,  their  commissioners,  have,  at  their 
bidding,  devoted  so  nuich  time  and  labor  to  the  investigation, 
whoso  results  are  embodied  in  the  report,  which  they  have  the 
honor  to  offer,  in  the  ensuing  pages,  to  the  representatives  and  the 
people  of  the  Empire  State. 


UNITED  STATES  AND   GAM  ADA. 


49 


CHAPTER    I. 

Htate    riUSONS. 

Prison  disciplino  !  "VVhut  is  it  ?  What  are  its  principles,  aims, 
metliods,  results?  What  its  connexion  Avilh  the  onward  inarch  of 
society,  of  civilization,  of  man?  Wlnit  relation  has  it  to  the  re- 
pression and  prevention  of  crime  ?  What  means  does  it  propose 
i\n-  dinnnishinjyjtho  number  botli  of  oilcncesand  offenders  ?  What 
apparatus,  agency,  machinery  does  it  suggest  as  most  likely  to 
thin  tlie  ranivs  and  lesson  the  activity  of  the  criminal  classes? 
These  are  pregnant  questions,  which  are  to  be  considered,  and  a 
solution  sought,  in  the  ensuing  pages. 

In  all  the  wide  range  of  social  science,  in  all  the  varied  fields 
of  inquiry  Avhich  command  the  study  of  the  friends  of  human 
happiness  and  progress,  there  is  scarcely  one  more  comprehensive, 
more  important,  more  inviting,  or  more  abundant  in  the  fruits 
which  a  wise  culture  Avill  yield,  than  that  which  will  engage  the 
reader's  attention  in  the  details  and  discussions,  which  are  to  fill 
up  the  pages  of  the  present  report. 

The  science  of  puin'shment,  the  philosophy  Avhich  investigates 
the  treatment  of  criminals,  holding  the  just  balance  between  co- 
ercion and  reformation,  nuist  have  a  profound  interest  for  all  lovers 
of  the  human  race.  It  goes  down  to  the  foundations  of  public 
order.  It  touches  the  stability  and  security  of  the  public  peace. 
It  affects  the  sacredness  of  human  life.  It  is  concerned  with  the 
protection  of  [jropcrty  and  the  safety  of  our  homes  and  persons. 
It  has  a  vital  relation  to  the  material  well-being  of  communities, 
and  a  yet  more  vital  relation  to  the  purity  of  public  morals  and 
the  redemption  of  multitudes  of  human  beings,  oi:r  brothers  and 
sisters,  from  sin  and  suffering.  It  addresses  at  once  the  head  and 
the  heart,  the  intellect  and  the  feelings.  It  attracts  alike  the 
statistician  and  the  philanthropist,  the  student  of  political  econo- 
my and  the  laborer  in  the  cause  of  social  virtue  and  happiness. 
It  engages  equally  the  attention  of  the  statesman,  who  deals  with 
the  interests  of  nations,  and  of  the  christian,  whose  thoughts  are 
directed  to  the  concerns  of  eternity. 

It  is  thus  seen  how  wide  is  the  scope  of  this  inquiry,  and  how 
important  the  results  which  it  aims  to  accomplish. 

[Assem.  No.  35.]  4 


ill 
jij 
■i.J 


60 


PRISONS  AND  REFORMATORIES  OP  THE 


Wo  linvo  8pok(Mi  ulxivo  of  (Iclails  iiiul  <li«('ii8Mi»'i>  ■  The  ^xprcs- 
sioi)  iiidicati'M  (ho  iiu'lhod  of  tho  foHovviiij;  Ob.-."'.  .Although 
history  is  piiihjsophy  ti'at'hiii<jr  hy  oxumi)h!,  it  ift,  iu>^ .  iliioh'ws,  tho 
cuistoin  of  tho  phiU>sophioiil  historian  to  draw  out  and  sot  forth 
the  lossons  whioh  his  narrativo  ooiivoys.  In  like  niainior,  discu8- 
Hion  will,  thi(»n^hout  Ihoso  paj^os,  ho  niin^jjlod  with  slalonioni;  tho 
oxhihition  of  prinoiplos  will  ho  oonibinod  with  the  oxiiihition  of 
facts.  This,  it  .seems  to  us,  will  bo  at  onoo  tho  most  natural  in 
itself  and  tho  most  entortainin<;  to  tho  reader;  tho  most  natural, 
because  prin('ii)los  grow  out  of  facts,  as  tho  fruit  ;^rows  from  tho 
blossom;  tho  most  entertaining,  boeauso  tho  tedium  of  discussion 
Avill  bo  roliovod  and  enlivened  i>y  tho  more  vivid  detail  of  narra- 
tive. 


•  f 


SECTION  FIRST. 
Phison  Systems. 

The  subject  of  this  section  may  bo  viewed  under  a  two-fold 
aspect;  tho  inquiry  may  relate  to  the  internal  discipline  of  the 
prisons;  or  it  may  regard  the  several  classes  of  penal  institutions, 
into  which  are  received  those  who  have  violated,  or  boon  arrested 
ou  a  suspicion  of  having  violated,  tho  laws. 

Under  tho  first  of  those  relations,  there  are  two  .systems  of 
imprisomnenf  in  the  United  States,  whioh  have  received  from  tho 
places  whore  they  severally  originated,  tho  names  of  tho  i*hila- 
dclphia  and  Auburn  systems,  and  from  tho  leading  elements  in 
their  rcsi)ectivo  di.scijjlino,  those  of  the  separate  and  congregate 
or  silent  .systems. 

Tiio  .separate  system  exists  nowhere  in  the  United  States  out  of 
Pennsylvania;  indeed,  it  may  be  almost  said  nowhere  in  Pennsyl- 
vania, except  in  tho  P^astorn  penitentiary,  at  Philadelphia;  for  we 
believe  that  the  system  is  very  imperfectly  enforced  in  tho  few 
jails  that  [)rofoss  to  have  adopted  it;  cortaiidy  this  is  so  in  those 
visited  by  the  connnissionors;  and  the  same  appeared  to  ns  to  be 
the  case  in  the  Western  penitentiary,  at  Pittsburgh.  Communi- 
cations Ix'tween  prisoners,  in  a  variety  of  ways,  even  by  loud 
talking  from  coll  to  coll,  seemed  to  be  abundant  in  that  prison. 
Wo  visited  a  considt^'ablo  number  of  prisoners  in  their  colls,  in 
company  with  the  warden,  Dr.  Hugh  Campbell,  in  whose  presence, 
without  contradiction  from  him,  the}'  all  declared  that  comnmni- 
cation  was  constantly  kept  up  among  them.  One  nuui  said  that 
he  would  know  every  prisoner  within  a  certain  difetance  from  his 


UNITED  STATES  AND  CANADA. 


61 


coll,  if  lio  wore  to  meet  him  in  tho  gtrcots  of  London,  nnd  thoy 
should  <MitL'r  into  i^onvcrsiition  with  each  otiicr.  Our  attention 
was  attracted,  in  one  of  tho  e»dl.s  of  tho  foniale  (h'partnient,  by  a 
stiin"  haii«riM<^  down  from  tiie  litth)  window  of  the  apartment, 
and,  on  iiujuirinj^  of  the  occupant  the  object  of  the  arran<;ement, 
we  received  for  annwer  that  it  wa«  d<vsi<;ned  as  a  medium  for  eon- 
veyiuj;  notes  to  the  inmates  of  tho  adjoininjj;  rooms.  Wo  natu- 
rally expressed  some  surprise  at  this  aimouneement,  and  tho 
wartlon  explained  by  saying  that  connnunicatinj^  in  this  way  had 
become,  by  usaji^e,  u  sort  of  prescriptive;  right,  a  kind  of  li\c  loct\ 
wiiich  was  usually  winked  at  by  tho  authorities.  Whether  tho 
same  privilege  is  extended  to  tho  male  prisoners,  wo  aro  not 
informed.  We  further  noticed  that  the  iron  pipes  for  conveying 
away  the  night  soil  of  tho  cells  a^jpeared  to  bo  patched  in  spots, 
with  some  metallic  substance.  On  inquiry,  wo  Avoro  told  that  this 
was  solder,  used  for  tilling  up  holes  that  had  been  l)ored  in  tho 
pi[)cs  to  obtain  tho  means  of  inter-conununication.  Wo  were  in- 
formed that  a  nuirder  was  planned,  and  uU  the  details  arranged 
between  prisoners  occupyirg  cells  on  opposite  sides  of  the  passage, 
and  after  their  discharge  carried  into  etl'ect,  as  previously  arranged. 
Tho  warden  himself  admits,  in  his  connnunication  to  us,  in  answer 
to  our  printed  questions,  that  tho  rule  of  non-intorcourso  is  vio- 
lated by  prisoners  in  various  ways,  and  even  that  their  communi- 
cations can  bo  carried  to  such  an  extent  us  to  be  mutually 
corrupting.  Dr.  Campbell  appeared  to  us  an  excellent  and 
humane  christian  gentleman,  and  he  is,  wo  believe,  eminent  in  his 
profession.  But,  at  tho  advanced  ago  of  nearly  or  quite  three 
score  years  and  ton,  and  without  any  i)revious  experience  in  tho 
management  of  prisons  or  prisoners,  he  had  boon,  very  recently, 
called  to  be  the  head  of  this  great  comnumity  of  convicted  crimi- 
nals. They  evidently,  as  was  natural,  took  advantage  of  his  Avant 
of  knowledge  and  of  his  gentle,  kindly  disposition,  to  treat  him, 
if  not  with  positive  disrespect,  at  least  with  undue  familiarity, 
and  even  with  a  pertness  of  manner,  Avhich  was  exceedingly  unbe- 
coming the  relation  existing  between  him  and  them.  As  an 
instance,  we  may  mention  that  the  occupant  of  one  of  the  cells 
visited  by  us,  in  his  presence  and  without  rebuke  from  him,  said, 
in  loud  and  boisterous  tones,  that  such  a  system  of  imprisonment 
could  have  been  invented  only  by  the  devil,  and  that  none  but 
devils  ought  ever  to  bo  subjected  to  it. 
It  is  the  opinion  of  Mr.  Frederick  Hill,  a  most  intelligent  gen- 


62 


PRISONS  AND  BEFORMATORIES  OF  THE 


tlcnii'in,  who  has  had  long  experience  as  a  prison  inspector  both  in 
England  and  Scothmd — an  opinion  in  Avhich  we  concur — that 
no  person,  unless  under  very  peculiar  circumstances,  should  be 
appointed  a  prison  oflScer,  who  is  more  than  forty  years  old  ;  and 
that  a  preference  should  be  given,  other  things  being  equal,  to 
persons  considerably  younger  than  this.  The  reason  is  plain. 
The  science  of  punishment  and  the  science  of  moral  training,  like 
all  other  sciences,  require  a  close  and  special  study  of  their  prin- 
ciples. A  mastery  of  these  principles  is  of  supreme  importance 
to  the  formation  of  a  good  prison  otiicer.  But  such  a  mastery  is 
the  work  of  time  and  patient  application,  and  requires,  to  secure 
it.  that  flexibility  and  elasticity  of  mind,  which  belong  to  the 
earlier  stages  of  man's  existence.  The  rigidity  of  age  is  unfavor- 
able to  new  acquisitions  in  paths  before  unfrodden ;  more  espe- 
cially on  a  subject  so  complex,  so  subtle,  so  manifold  in  its  rela- 
tions, and  so  profoundly  philosophical,  as  that  of  prison  discipline. 
The  State  prison  of  New  Jersey,  at  Trenton,  was  organized  and 
for  many  years  conducted  on  the  Philadelphia  or  separate  olan ; 
but  this  has  been  replaced  by  the  Aul>urn  or  congregate  s*.  stem. 
The  change,  as  we  gather  from  the  prison  reports,  appears  to  have 
been  made  chiefly,  though  not  wholly,  on  financial  considerations. 
As  carl}'  as  1840  the  board  of  inspectors  expressed  their  misgiv- 
ings as  to  the  leformatory  powei-  of  the  sj^stem,  though  at  the 
same  time  they  acknowledged  a  still  greater  distrust  of  that  to 
which  it  is  oppose<l.  The  same  year  the  physician,  Dr.  James  B. 
Coleman,  attacked  the  system  with  much  vigor,  as  prejudicial  to 
the  health  pf  both  body  and  mind  ;  as  diminishing  the  force  of  the 
prisoner's  organs  generally,  and  particularly  weakening  the  mus- 
cular fi))rc  ;  as  obstructing  the  lymphatic  glands  and  vitiating  the 
nervous  action  ;  as  weakening  the  powers  of  the  mind,  and  in 
some  cases  producing  absolute  derangement.  lie  states  that  there 
were  at  that  time,  among  one  Inmdred  and  tifty-two  prisoners, 
twelve  deranged  men,  .jome  of  Avhom  had  become  so  "from  the 
nature  of  the  confinement."  Dr.  Colenvi  renewed  these  assaults 
on  successive  years,  and  in  184G  attacked  it  as  deficient  in  the 
reformatory  power  claimed  for  it  by  its  advocates.  lie  says  : 
"To  shut  a  man  up  alone  in  a  narrow,  imperfectly  ventilaled  and 
poorly  lighted  cell,  with  a  view  to  reformation  of  iiiiiid.  para- 
mount to  all  otlier  considerations,  for  him  there  to  work  a  change 
of  fcolinj;  in  the  irloom  of  solitude,  embittered  bv  recollections  of 
the  past  and  paralyzed  by  the  prospect  of  the  future,  this  condi- 


UNITED  STATES  AND  CANADA. 


53 


tion  Is  most  effectual  to  drive  him  mad,  or  reduce  him  to  imbe- 
cility, besides  inducing  organic  diseases  almost  incurable."  From 
time  fo  time,  during  the  following  years,  the  financial  aspect  of 
the  question  was  recalled,  and  the  scanty  returns  from  convict 
labor  referred  to  us  calling  for  the  earnest  consideration  of  the 


Legislature.      Under  these   successive   blows — these 


arguments 


drawn  from  the  non-reformatory  character  of  the  discipline,  the 
physical  and  mental  health  ot  the  prisoners,  and  the  material 
interests  of  the  State — the  system  was  gradually  relaxed,  until  in 
1859  a  joint  committee  of  the  Legislature  reported  as  follows : 
"  The  prison  is  now  so  full  that  the  system  of  solitary  confinement 
is,  in  practice,  disregarded,  many  cells  having  two  or  more  prison- 
ers. *  *  *  The  mode  of  Avorking  the  prisoners,  as  at  present 
pursued,  is,  in  the  judgment  of  the  committee,  detrimental  to  the 
interests  of  the  State.  *  *  *  Xhe  advantages  of  the  Avork- 
hoxise  system  are  so  obvious  that  this  committee  does  not  consider 
it  necessary  to  go  into  lengthy  details.  *  *  *  With  a  well 
established  system,  it  is  the  unanimous  opinion  of  the  c(mimittee 
that  the  State  prison  will  aflx)rd  an  income  sufiicient  to  sustain 
itself,  and  in  a  few  years  reimburse  the  full  amount  now  asked 
for  ($20,000).  *  '"  *  From  this  statement  it  Avill  be  perceived 
that  the  committee  are  justified  in  reconmiending  the  v/orkhouse 
system  for  its  pecuniary  advantages.  All  experience  proves  that 
the  health  of  the  prisoner  is  materially  affected  by  solitary  con- 
finement, and  consequently  the  moral  improvement  so  much  de- 
sired is  entirely  prevented.  Broken  down  in  health,  with  all  the 
better  feelings  of  manhood  crushed  out,  moral  improvement  is 
out  of  the  question."  '  ' 

From  this  time  the  separate  system  was  wholly,  as  it  had  be- 
fore been  partially,  abandoned;  and  the  congregate  system  was 
thenceforth  sjbstitilted  in  its  place.  While  moral  considerations 
were  not  excluded,  it  is  evident,  both  from  the  spirit  and  the 
letter  of  the  foregoing  report,  as  it  is  from  other  ofiicial  docu- 
ments not  cited,  that  financial  considerations  were  most  potent  in 
effecting  the  clianire 

The  ►^fate  prison  of  Rhode  Island,  at  Providence,  has  had  a 
similar  hisory.  It  was  commenced,  like  that  of  New  Jersey,  on 
the  Pliii'ultiphia  plan,  having  been  opened  for  the  reception  of 
,<iis()ners  the  first  day  of  November,  1838.  Dr.  Thomas  Cleave- 
land,  a  very  intelligent  gentleman,  was  appointed  warden,  and 
wiis  instructed  to  visit  the  Eastern  penitentiary  of  Penufcj'lvania 


54 


PRISONS  AND  REFORMATORIES  OF  TEE 


f    -1 


ill 


and  the  Pciiitcntiaiy  of  New  Jersey,  that  he  might  possess  him- 
self, as  far  as  possible,  of  the  course  pursued  in  other  similar  in- 
stitutions, and  so  be  enabled  to  profit  hy  their  experience  in 
organizing  and  managing  that  of  llliode  Island.  Doubts  very 
early  sprang  up  as  to  the  wisdom  and  efficiency  of  the  separate 
system.  Just  four  years  stibsequent  to  the  opening  of  the  insti- 
tution, the  inspectors,  in  their  Annual  Report,  recommended  to 
the  Legislature  that  they  "  cause  a  full  examination  to  be  made 
of  the  State  prison,  Avith  a  view  to  deciding  whether  the  present 
mode  of  separate  confinement  be  not  expensive  to  the  State  and 
injurious  to  the  minds  of  the  convicts."  They  add:  "Of  the 
thirty-seven  convicts  who  have  been  committed  to  the  prison,  six 
have  become  insane.  Several  others  have,  at  times,  exhibited 
slight  symptoms  of  derangement." 

Tlie  recommendation  of  the  inspectors  was  acted  up(m  by  the 
Lcgislati  re,  and  the  result  was  that  a  change  from  the  Philadel- 
phia to  the  Auburn  system  was  begun  the  following  year,  and 
fully  carried  into  efl'cct  dining  the  year  next  ensuing  tliercaftcr. 
In  an  able  paper,  submitted  to  the  Legislature  in  October,  1844, 
by  Dr.  Cleaveland,  warden  of  the  prison,  that  officer  sets  forth, 
with  much  fuUness  of  detail,  the  considerations  which  led  to  the 
change,  lie  says  tluit  it  resulted  from  "a  careful  observation, 
extending  through  a  period  of  more  than  four  years,  of  the  inju- 
rious and  alarming  el}ecls  of  solitary  imjirisonment  upon  the  men- 
tal and  physical  condition  of  those  who  were  the  sul)jects  of  it." 
He  describes  the  system  as  a  "slow,  corroding  process,  carrying 
its  subjects  to  the  derangement  or  destruction  both  of  body  and 
mind."  lie  avers  tliat  "of  the  forty  i)risoners,  committed  while 
the  strictly  solitaiy  system  was  in  o])eration,  ten,  or  one-fourth  of 
the  whole  number,  manifested  decided  symptoms  of  derangement." 
He  further  observes  :  "  Without  dwelling  on  the  greater  expen- 
siveness  of  the  solitary  plan,  its  ellects  on  general  health,  its  fail- 
ure to  deter  from  crime,  according  to  the  promise  held  out,  and 
various  other  objections,  I  would  remark  that  the  advantage 
claimed  for  it,  of  greater  cahnness  of  demeanor  and  easier  sub- 
mission to  the  rules  of  the  place,  <n\  the  part  of  the  solitary  pris- 
oner, has  not  l)cen  realized  here.  On  the  contrary,  solitude  has 
l>een  found  to  produce  restless  irritability  and  a  peevishness  o*" 
disposition,  impatient  of  the  unnatural  restraint  impose<l  on  tlic 
r-^luctant  liody  and  min<l,  ditHcult  to  be  dealt  with;  while,  in  the 
performance  of  social  labor,  in  sileuf.e,  the  men  have  been  better 


UNITED  STATES  AND  CANADA. 


6(i 


subject  to  control,  and  have  required  less  frequent  exertions  of 
authority  than  before.  When  shut  up  in  the  cells,  they  exercised,  . 
under  the  cravings  of  the  social  instinct,  Avhich  walls  and  chains 
cannot  repress,  every  contrivance  that  ingenuity  could  suggest,  by 
means  of  the  window  and  the  pipes  passing  through  the  cells,  to 
hold  some  connnunication  with  each  other,  and  they  were  more 
frequeiitly  suocessful  than  would  have  been  supposed  possible. 
While,  on  the  other  hand,  when  the  strict  seclusion  of  the  cells 
was  done  away,  and  the  senses  of  the  prisoners  were  once  more 
opened  to  a  portion  of  their  accustomed  impressions,  and  the 
social  nature  had  l)een  partially  relieved,  by  permitting  company 
without  conversation,  a  very  marked  change  came  over  the  pris- 
oners, and  they  manifested  most  clearly  to  the  observer  by  their 
greater  cheerfidiicss,  alacrity  in  hibor,  and  prompter  compliance 
with  orders,  that  their  condition  was  much  improved,  and  that 
they  were  sensible  of  it." 

The  whole  argument  is  thus  sunnned  up:  "Upon  a  review  of 
facts  like  those  I  have  now  detailed,  it  is  impossible  for  me  to 
hesitate  in  condemning  the  penal  system  of  solitary  eontinement. 
Were  it  preferalde  in  an  economical  point  of  view,  (and  the  case 
is  widely  the  reverse,)  we  could  not  liesitatc  in  deciding  the 
question  l)e(ween  economy  and  humianity.'' 

While  the  state  prisons  of  Rhode  Island  aiv<i  New  Jersey  have 
thus  the  same  general  history,  th«  ciiange  of  system  in  them  is 
distinguished  by  two  marked  dili'eremces.  In  lihode  Island,  the 
separate  system  was  of  shorter  duration,  and  wan  gi\-en  up  chiefly 
on  moral  and  humane  considerations;  in  iv^evr  Jersey,  it  continued 
much  lonirer,  and  was  replaced  by  the  riva!  s^^-.^em  Bnainly,  as  we 
have  seen,  for  reasons  connected  ivith  the  pecuniary  interests  of 
the  institution. 

Thus  it  appears  that,  as  already  i;tated,  the  separate  system  of 
imprisonment  in  the  United  States  if  confined  at  present  ^o  the 
state  of  Pennsylvania,  and  exists  in  vigor  uAy  m  tb*  city  of 
Philadelphia.  Wherever  else  the  experiment  has  b-K-n  :ried  in 
our  country,  it  has  failed.  Arc  we  to  conclude  from  "hif^  that 
separate  imprisonment  is  worthless?  In  our  judgment,  by  no 
means.  On  the  contrary,  we  are  of  the  opinion  that,  in  its  proper 
place,  it  hjw  an  immense  value.  We  shall  have  occasion,  1)efore 
concluding  this  report,  to  ststte  our  views  more  at  larjrt-  on  iliin 
point,  and  will  now  only  remark,  in  passing,  that,  apart  from 
houses  of  arrest,  where  no  other  sort  of  imprisouuient  should  be 


i 


t1 


i  •!  :  i; 


I   ■) 


56 


PRISONS  AND  RLFORMATOBIES  OP  THE 


tolerntcd,  the  utility  of  scmrate  imprisonment  lies,  as  we  conceive, 
not  in  employing  it  as  a  complete  system  in  itself,  l)iit  as  the 
initial  part  of  a  system  which,  beginning  in  a  species  of  contine- 
ment  intensely  penal  in  its  character,  ends  in  a  form  of  restriction 
so  slightly  penal,  that  it  is  hut  one  remove  from  entire  freedom. 

Everywhere,  then,  beyond  the  limits  of  Pennsylvania,  the  sys- 
tem of  imprisonment  in  the  United  States  is  that  Avhich  is  called, 
indifferently,  the  Auburn,  congregate,  or  silent  system.  The  last 
of  these  designations,  however,  has  become,  in  some  prisons,  ([uite 
inapplicable.  Some  do  not  even  claim  to  conduct  their  discipline 
upon  the  strictly  silent  system;  in  others,  where  the  claim  is  made, 
the  rule  of  silence  has  but  a  partial  enforcement;  while,  in  com- 
paratively few  is  the  rigidity  of  the  old  discipline  of  absolute 
non-intercourse  maintained  in  full  force. 

The  .separate  and  silent  systems  have,  notwithstanding  their 
diversity,  a  common  basi.".  Isolation  and  labor  lie  at  the  founda- 
t'.ou  of  both.  They  are  fundamental  principles  of  both,  accord- 
ing to  the  ideal  on  which  they  were  formed.  The  ditterence  is 
one  of  ai)plication;  of  mode,  and  not  of  principle.  In  one,  the 
isolation  is  etfected  by  an  absobite  bodily  separation  ])y  day  as 
well  as  by  night,  and  the  iaitor  is  performed  in  the  cell  of  each 
individual  convict.  In  the  other  the  labor  is  performed  in  com- 
mon Avoikshops,  and  the  is<dation  at  night  's  secured  by  the  con- 
tinement  of  the  prisoners  in  sej)arate  celli».  but  during  the  day  is 
of  a  moral  species,  being  etfected  by  the  enforcement,  so  far  as 
such  a  thing  is  possil)l<',  of  an  abj^jlute  silt-uoe.  The  l)odies  of  the 
prisoners  are  together,  but  their  souls  are  aparf:  and,  w^hile  there 
is  a  material  society,  there  is  a  mental  solitu'lc.  Such  is  the 
theory  on  which  the  ri»-.speetive  sy.stems  are  fouiule<i!  l)ut  in 
neither  do  the  facis  ever  fully  corresp^^id  to  the  ideal. 

We  come  now  to  the  second  anpeet  of  this  subj^^ct — that  which 
relat<'S  to  the  series  of  penal  and  correctional  in.stitiit'  n-  I'.i-nu'ng 
tb«  pr'won  systems  of  the  several  States  and  of  Caii.i  In  most 

of  the  Maies  visited  by  us  there  arc  thrre  cla.ss<  -  oi  t- rs,.  insti- 
ti»t.»ous.  riz  :  State  prisons,  county  Jails,  and  nfurin  .m  iiools  or 
retugci-  Two  however — J)elaware  and  We.st  Virginia-  iiave  no 
SUi1<'  i)ri,-^onH,  Mid  four — Delaware,  West  Virginia.  Indiana  and 
New  Jerse}' — no  reformatories,  though  the  last  named  of  these 
States  is  likely  tr*  havf  one  soon.  Several  States  have  one  or  two 
prisons  of  a  grade  intt-i-mediate  bctw«>en  tin;  State  i)iis()n  and  the 
county  jaii   called  by  iitl'erent  ;*ames — house  of  correction,  work- 


UNITED  STATES  vND  CANADA. 


67 


house,  bridewell,  etc.  No  Stfite  has  .\  complete  syptem  of  such 
institutions  except  Massaciiusetts,  although  in  Conneciicut  every 
county  jail  is  at  the  same  time  a  workhouse.  New  York  has  six 
prisons,  calietl  penitentiaries,  intermediate  between  her  state 
prisf)ns  and  her  county  jails;  but  they  ere  all  local  institutions, 
created  by  special  statutes  and  managed  by  the  authorities  of  the 
counties  in  Avhich  they  are  situated,  though  receiving,  except  those 
in  the  counties  of  New  York  and  Kings,  inmates  from  the  adjoin- 
ing counties,  for  Avhose  l»oard  they  receive  a  certain  sti[)ulated 
weekly  compensation,  Desides  the  avails  of  their  labor  during  their 
imprisomc.it.  One  of  these — the  Albany  penitentijjry,  under  the 
charge  of  Gen.  Pilsbury — is,  in  efl'ect,  a  United  iStates  prison, 
receiving  by  contract  all  jHirsons  sentenced  for  felonies  in  the 
District  of  Columbia,  and  during  the  late  civil  war  a  large  number 
of  prisoners  of  state. 

Besides  these,  there  is  another  class  of  prisons  in  all  the  states, 
and  in  some  of  them  quite  numerous,  called  inditlerently  station- 
liuuses,  guard-houses  a-id  lock-ups.  They  are  little  noticed  and 
little  known,  and  ^-et  very  important.  They  s+and  in  great  need 
of  reform,  being,  as  a  class,  the  most  filthy,  cramped,  comfortless 
and  ill-numaged  of  all  our  i)enal  establishments.  They  would  be 
the  most  demoralizing,  were  it  noUbr  the  fact  that  their  inmates  re- 
main commonly  only  a  few  hours,  and  seldom  more  than  a  few  days. 

With  these  general  remarks  we  offer  a  few  brief  details  touch- 
ing the  prison  systems  of  the  individual  states,  regarded  in  the 
light  in  which  avc  are  now  contemplating  the  subject : 

Connecticut. — 1.  A  state  prison  at  Wethersfield.  2.  A  county 
jail,  which  is  also  a  workhouse,  in  each  county.  3.  A  stale  reform 
school  at  West  Meriden,  and  the  Watkinson  Juvenile  Asylum  and 
I'arni  School  at  Hartford, 

Delaware. — Tlie  only  class  of  prisons  in  this  state  are  county 
jails,  of  which  there  is  one  in  each  county.  The  principal  jail  is 
at  New  Castle,  in  which  are  confined  prisoners  convicted  of  state 
prison  oflences.  An  act  has  been  passed  by  the  Legislature  to 
establish  a  reform  school,  but  as  yet  it  reoiains  a  dead  letter  in 
the  statute  book. 

Illinois. — 1.  A  state  prison  at  Jolict.  2.  A  city  prison  in 
Chicago,  called  the  bridewell.  3.  County  jails — the  whole  num- 
ber of  counties  in  the  state  being  one  hundred  and  two,  and  of 
jails  about  eighty.     4.  A  reform  school  at  Chicago. 

Indiana. — 1.  Two  state  prisons,  one  at  Jetfersonville  and  the 


VI 


[I 


i 


!    'Mi 


.11 1 1 


!H 


1 1  "^ 


ii  I 


58 


PRISONS  AND  REFORMATORIES  OF  THE 


other  at  Michigan  City.  2.  County  juils.  There  are  no  prisons 
of  an  intermediate  grade  and  no  juvenile  reformatories.  This  and 
West  Virginia  are  the  only  states  visited  by  the  commissioners,  in 
which  no  movement  has  been  made  looking  to  the  establishment 
of  this  latter  class  of  institutions. 

Kentucky. — 1.  A  state  prison  at  Frankfort.  2.  A  workhouse 
at  Louisville  (city  prison).  3.  County  jails.  4.  A  house  of  refuge 
at  Louisville,  opened  for  the  reception  of  inmates  in  July,  1865. 

Maine. — 1.  State  prison  at  Thomaston.  2.  Two  houses  of  cor- 
rection. 3.  County  jails,  4.  State  reform  school  at  Cape  Eliza- 
beth. I 

Afaryland. — 1.  State  prison  at  Baltimore.  2.  Baltimore  city  jail. 
3.  County  jails,  one  in  each  of  the  twenty-one  counties  of  the 
state.     4.  A  house  of  refuge  at  Baltimore, 

Massaclmsctln. — The  prison  system  of  this  state  is  more  com- 
plete, and  the  prisons  themselves,  in  oui- judgment,  better  manned 
and  better  managed,  tlian  in  any  other  of  the  states  visited  by  uo. 
The  whole  series  of  institutions,  constituting  or  intimately  con- 
nected with  the  prison  system,  are  the  following:  1.  A  state 
prison,  at  Charlestown,  into  which  male  convicts  only  are  received. 
2.  A  jail  in  each  county,  in  whicli  are  conlined  persons  arrested 
and  awaiting  trial,  and  those  who  are  temporarily  detained  prior 
to  their  transfer  to  sotoc  other  prison  in  execution  of  sentence.  3. 
A  house  of  correction  in  each  county,  which  receives  only  prison- 
ers in  execution  of  sentence,  and  where  all  the  inmates  are  re- 
quired to  lal)or.  y\ll  females,  convicted  of  offences  against  the 
laws,  are  sentenced  to  the  houses  of  correction,  or  to  another 
class  of  j)rison.s  to  l»e  imuiediately  named.  The  two  classes  of 
county  prisons,  the  house  ot'  correction  and  the  jail,  though  quite 
distinct  in  tijeir  t"ii»i<tions,  are  generally  in  the  same  enclosure  and 
•nder  the  same  management.  4.  Houses  of  industry.  These  arc 
much  the  same  tiling  as  the  houses  t)f  correction,  only  under  an* 
<jther  name.  We  are  not  quite  sure  Avhether  tliere  are  any  houses 
of  induHtry,  oi- .r  tuun  that  on  Deer  island,  in  IVjston  harbor.  .5. 
State  r^^orm  s(  Mools.  Of  tlu  >  there  are  three:  one  for  boys,  at 
Westborough;  a  sei'ond  for  boys  (i.autical),  kept  on  board  two 
ships,  stationed  one  at  Boston  and  the  other  at  New  Bedford;  and 
a  third  for  girls,  at  Lancaster.  0.  Female  refuges.  Thesi;  are 
"  homes"  for  the  reception  of  discharged  or  {<ardoned  female  pri- 
soners. There  are  two  of  them;  one  at  Springtield,  the  other  at 
Dedham.     They  are  private  establishments,  but  are  aided  by  the 


Lsil 


UNITED  STATES  AND  CANADA. 


69 


state.  Such  establishments  are  essential  aitb  to  society  in  its  great 
work  of  reforming  criminals,  and  the  state  does  well  to  assist 
them  with  contributions  from  the  public  treasury.  7.  A  state 
ao'cncy  for  the  encouragement  and  aid  of  discharged  male  prisoners. 
The  aim  is  to  procure  employment  for  tiiem,  and  to  afford  thera 
subsistence  Avhile  seeking  it.  The  fund  for  this  object  is  made  up, 
in  pju-t,  of  contributions  by  the  state,  and,  in  part,  of  private 
bencl'actions.  The  state  ofKcer  who  has  charge  of  this  fund  is 
called  the  "  agent  for  discharged  convicts."  This  agency,  and  the 
female  refuges  named  under  the  last  head,  are  important  supple- 
ments to  the  prison  system.  8.  Truant  schools,  another  class  of 
reformatory,  or  more  properly,  perhaps,  preventive  institutions. 
The  oldest  of  these  is  the  Boston  House  of  Keformation,  estab- 
lished in  1827,  and  accommodating,  on  an  average,  about  two  hun- 
dred pupils.  Other  schools  of  this  class  exist  in  Roxhury,  Cam- 
brulge,  Worcester,  Springiield,  Lowell  and  New  Bedford.  Theso 
acconmiod.'ite,  altogether,  some  two  hundred  more  truant  and 
vagrant  chiUlren.  They  are  supported  by  the  several  towns  and 
cities  which  send  pupils  to  them,  the  practice  being,  sometimes, 
to  send  truants  from  towns  which  have  no  such  schools.  As  a 
general  rule  tiiey  are  sent  l)y  police  authority.  9.  Private  reform 
schools.  The  largest  of  these  is  a  Roman  Catholic  reformatory  in 
Boston,  under  tiic  care  of  the  bishop  of  the  diocese,  having  a 
capacity  for  three  hundred  to  four  hundred  boys.  The  oldest  is 
the  Farm  School,  on  Thompson's  island,  in  Boston  harbor.  It 
contains,  usually,  a  hundred  boys,  more  or  less.  There  is  a  simi- 
lar school  at  AVest  Newton,  containing  a  family  of  about  thirty 
boys;  and  another  is  incorporated,  but  not  yet  established,  at 
Salem.  These  institutions  have  not,  so  far,  been  aided  by  the 
state,  being  all  sustained  by  privtite  charity;  but  the  proposition 
has  been  made,  and  is  gaining  favor,  to  aid  them  from  the  public 
treasury,  10.  Guard  houses,  or  lock-ups.  Each  town  of  3,000 
inhabitants  is  required  to  maintain  at  least  one.  This  law  is,  in 
many  cases,  disregarded;  yet  the  number  of  prisons  of  this  class 
is  something  over  one  hundred.  Such,  then,  is  the  penal  and  cor- 
rectional system  of  Massachusetts,  and  so  many  and  multiform 
the  institutions  and  classes  of  institutions  which  compose  it.  It 
is  not  perfect,  especially  in  the  machinery  l)y  which  it  is  worked; 
but  it  makes  a  nearer  approximation  to  that  standard  than  is  else- 
where to  be  met  with  in  our  country;  and  it  will  surely  be  acknow- 


m 


■'\<t 


60 


PRISONS  AND  REFORMATORIES  OP  THE 


I       I 


1      ! 


ledgetl  that  it  indicates  at  once  a  hroad  icac'i  of  benevolence  in 
the  citizens,  and  a  wise  and  liberal  policy  in  the  Legislature. 

^UcJu'gan. —  >.  JState  prison,  at  Jackson.  2.  House  of  correc- 
tion, at  Detroit.  3.  County  Jails.   4,  State  reforni  school,  at  Lansing. 

JSIifisouri. — 1.  State  prison,  at  Jetlersou  Cit}'.  2.  Workhouse, 
at  St.  L'/iiis.     3.  County  jails.     4.  House  of  refuge,  at  St.  Louis. 

N<tw  Jcvficy. —  I.  State  prison,  at  Trenton.  2.  County  jails. 
3.  Slate  reform  school,  not  yet  located.  The  movement  is  in  good 
hands,  and  vigorously  pro.secuted.  The  benevolent  design  of  the 
Legislature  Avil!,  no  doubt,  be  speedily  carried  into  full  etl'ect. 

J^ew  Hampshire. — L  State  prison,  at  Concord.  2.  County 
jails.     3.  State  reform  school  at  Manchester.  *        * 

Neio  York. — L  Three  state  prisons,  viz:  at  Sing  Sing,  Auburn 
and  Daiinemora.  That  at  Sing  8ing  alone  receives  female  prison- 
ers. Indeed,  the  female  prison  at  that  place  is,  in  etfect,  a  dis- 
tinct institution,  having  separate  l)uildings  and  an  administration 
of  its  own,  wholly  by  female  otiiccrs,  the  su^jplies  only  being 
prociired  by  the  authorities  of  the  male  prison.  2.  Six  peniten- 
tiaries, which  are  local  prisons.  3.  County  jails,  4.  Juvenile 
reformatories.  (1.)  A  house  of  refuge,  with  male  and  female  de- 
partments, on  Kaiulall's  island,  county  of  New  York,  under  the 
care  of  an  ijicor[)orated  society,  but  receiving  State  aid.  (2.)  A 
house  of  refuge  for  boys  only,  at  li()ch(>ster,  ^lom-oc  county:  a 
state  institution.  (3.)  A  juvenile  a.sylum,  in  New  York,  similar 
in  its  general  scope  to  the  two  preceding,  though  not  strictly 
punitive,  but  rather  preventive  and  reformatory.  (4.)  A  like  in- 
stitution under  the  care  of  the  society  for  the  protection  of  des- 
titute Koman  Catholic  children.  (5.)  A  truant  home,  at  Brook- 
lyn, designed  for  very  young  transgres.sors;  chicHy  indeed,  as  the 
nami'  imports,  truant  and  vagrant  children.  (6.)  A  truant  home, 
at  Kochostcr,  similar  to  the  above.  The  juvenile  a.s}']um,  men- 
tioned above,  is  authorized,  by  a  law  recently  passed,  to  receive 
ti'uunt  children.  7.  A  Children's  Aid  Socict}',  at  New  York. 
1^.  (iuard  houses,  or  lock-ups. 

Ohio. —  1.  State  prison,  at  Columbus.  2.  City  prison,  at  Cin- 
cinnati, with  male  an4  female  »iunches,  entirely  distinct  and  sepa- 
rate from  each  ollnr.  3.  County  jails.  4.  Correctional  institu- 
iu>\\>.  viz:  (1.)  A  house  of  refuge,  at  CiiK«iunati.  (2.)  A  state 
reform  tarn.,  near  Tiancjister. 

Penn.'<i/lvania.—  \.  Two  state  ])ri.sons — the  l-Ijistcrn  penitenti- 
jtfj>,  «t  l^ladi'lphia;   and   the  Western   ditto,   at   Pittsburg.     2. 


Vf  il 


l.ilil 


UNITED  STATES  AND  CANADA. 


61 


County  jails.  3.  Coitp ^tioniil  institutions,  viz:  (1.)  A  house  of 
refuge,  at  Philadelphia,  for  white  boys  and  girls.  (2.)  A  house 
of  refuge,  same  place,  for  colored  children,  of  both  sexes.  (3.) 
A  house  of  refuge  for  both  sexes,  at  Pittsburg. 

Rhode  Lsland. — 1.  State  prison,  at  Providence.  1'.  County 
jails.     3.  Reform  school,  at  Providence.  '  * 

Vermont. — 1,  State  prison,  at  Windsor.  2.  County  jails.  3. 
A  reform  farm  school  for  juvenile  delinquents,  which  has  gone 
into  operation  since  the  visit  of  the  connnissioners.  Its  location 
is  not  known  by  them. 

West  Virginia. — This  young  state,  l)orn  amid  the  convulsions 
of  civil  war,  has  as  yet  but  one  class  of  prisons — the  county  jails. 
Persons  convicted  of  felonies  arc  imprisoned  in  the  common  jail 
of  Wheeling,  at  present  the  capital  of  the  state. 

Wisconsin. — 1.  State  prison,  at  Waupun.  2.  A  house  of  cor- 
rection, at  Milwaukee.  3.  County  jails.  4.  A  reform  school,  at 
AVaukeslui. 

Canada. — 1.  Provincial  penitentiar}',  at  Kingston.  2.  County 
jails  in  Upper  Canada,  and  district  jails  in  Lower  Canada.  3. 
Two  reformatory  pris(nis;  one  in  each  of  the  provinces. 

Notwithstanding  the  encomiums  bestowed,  in  aformerparagragh, 
on  the  comparative  excellence  of  the  prison  system  of  Massachu- 
setts, we  have  no  hesitation  in  expressing  the  opinion  that  there 
is  no  approach  to  perfection  in  any  of  the  systems  Avhich  have 
fallen  under  our  observation.  The  one  supreme  aim  of  all  public 
punishment  is  the  protection  of  society  by  the  prevention  of 
crime.  A  system  of  prison  discipline,  which,  combined  with  other 
agencies  to  be  hereafter  indicated,  Avould  banish  crime  from  so- 
ciety and  secure  a  universal  observance  of  the  laws,  would  be 
fairly  entitled  to  be  regarded  as  perfect;  and,  in  proportion  as 
such  system  should  approximate  the  result  stated,  would  be  its 
approach  to  the  standard  of  perfection. 

Now,  whatever  ditferences  of  opinion  may  exist  among  penolo- 
gists on  other  questions  embraced  in  the  general  science  of  prison 
discipline,  there  is  one  point  on  which  there  may  be  said  to  be  an 
almost  if  not  quite  perfect  unanimity,  viz:  that  the  moral  cure  of 
criminals,  adult  as  well  as  juvenile,  their  restoration  to  virtue  and 
"  the  spirit  of  a  sound  mind,"  is  the  best  means  of  attaining  the 
end  in  view, — the  repression  and  extirpation  of  crime;  and  hence 
that  reformation  is  the  primary  object  to  be  aimed  at  in  the  ad- 
ministration  of  penal  justice.     We  have  only,    then,  to  ask  our 


m 


62 


PRISONS   AND    REFORMATORIES   C^V   THR 


selves  tlio  question,  Hrst,  how  fur  imy  given  pcnul  system  aims  at 
the  refonniition  of  its  8iil)jet'ta,  and  secoiully,  with  what  degree  of 
wisdom  and  cfHeleney  it  pursues  that  end,  to  have  an  iiifallil>U' 
gauge  w  herewith  to  mark  its  npproaeh  to  or  reees  '  >n  from  the 
sliindard  of  perfeetion. 

Tlieie  is  not  a  prison  system  in  the  United  ISt  itos,  which,  tried 
by  either  of  these  tests,  would  not  be  found  wtii;; sng.  There  is 
not  one,  wo  feel  eonvineed — always  excepting  the  department 
which  has  the  care  of  juvenile  delincpients — not  one  which  seeks 
the  reformation  of  its  subjects  as  u  primary  object;  and  even  if 
this  were  true  of  any  of  them,  there  is  not  oiu  with  the  exception 
above  noted,  which  pursues  the  end  named  by  the  agencies  most 
likely  to  accomplish  it.  1'hey  arc  all,  so  far  as  adult  j)risoners 
are  concerned,  huiking  in  a  supreme  <levo(ion  to  the  right  aim;  all 
lacking  in  the  breadtli  and  comprehensiveness  of  their  scope;  all 
lacking  in  the  aptitude  and  etHciency  of  their  instruments;  and 
all  lacking  in  the  employment  of  a  wise  and  efleetive  machinery 
to  keep  the  whole  in  healthy  and  vigorous  action. 

Having  given  in  this  section  a  l)ird's  eye  view  of  the  prison  sys- 
tems of  the  United  States  and  Canada,  and  havinj;  stated  the 
opinion  that  the}^  are  all,  to  a  greater  or  less  extent,  deticient  in 
their  principles  and  methods,  it  may  be  jjroper,  at  this  point, 
briefly  to  .-ketch  the  system  which,  after  the  l)est  thought  we 
have  bee.)  able  to  give  to  the  sui)ject,  appears  to  us  most  wisely 
adapted  lo  tlit*  ends  of  a  just  and  true  prison  discipline. 

As  a  1  i('j)uratory  step,  we  would  have  a  law  enacted,  by  which 
the  education  of  all  the  children  of  the  state  shoidd  be  made 
compulsory.  Every  child  should  be  ccmipcdled,  within  a  certain 
range  of  years,  to  attti'''  regularly  some  school,  either  public  or 
private;  or,  if  parents  desire  a  more  select  eilucation  for  their 
otlspring,  they  should  berecjuired  to  show  that  they  are  receiving, 
during  the  legal  age,  adequate  instruction  at  home.  No  half-way 
measures,  no  patchwork  legislation  will  meet  the  necessities  of  the 
case.  It  is  far  better  to  force  education  upon  the  people  than  to 
force  them  into  prisons  to  expiate  crimes,  of  which  neglect  or 
ignorance  has  been  the  occijis'jn.  Deep  and  broad  foundations  of 
moral  and  religious,  no  less  than  of  intellectual  character  must  be 
laid  in  our  connnon  schools,  despite  the  obstacles  that  bigotry  and 
sectarian  jealousy  may  throw  in  the  way;  and  the  children  of  the 
state  must  be  there,  even  by  comi)ulsion,  if  need  be,  to  be  so 
trained. 


UNITED  STATES  AND   CANADA. 


63 


Tl)is  ossontial  preliminary  aid  l)cing  thus  sccurotl,  the  first  in 
our  scries  of  CHtiiblishmcnts,  l<)okin<jf  to  the  repression  of  crime, 
shoulti  l)e  institutions  of  ii  preventive  eliariietcr.  Here,  indeed,  to 
our  view,  is  the  real  flel«l  of  promise.  The  problem  is  to  stay 
tlu'  current  of  crime,  to  turn  it  back  upon  i(s(df,  and  to  dry  up 
its  founhiin-hcads.  In  studying;  this  (juestion,  tho  mind  turns 
instinctively  to  childhood  as  the  true  field  of  effort  for  the  accom- 
plishment of  the  desired  end. 

Two  classes  of  institutions,  it  appears  to  us,  arc  needed  and  arc 
sufKcient  at  this  stage  of  tlie  work  —  public  nurseries  and  indus- 
trial schools. 

Piil)]ic  nurseries  for  children  of  two  '>'•  "irec  to  five  or  six  years 
old,  of  pauper  parents,  and  perhaps  fie  others,  are  tho  first 

link,  the  earliest  agency  in  the  prcv.  '   frimo  in  youth  and 

manhood.    The  importance  of  this  cl  itutions  will  appear 

evident  when  it  is  considered  that  the  riisi  imiucssions  made  upon 
the  mind,  whether  good  or  evil,  are  the  most  lasting  and  tho  most 
ditHcult  to  eradicate.  All  experience  shows  that  such  impressions 
received  in  early  childhood,  and  the  habits  formed  at  that  tender 
age,  usually  exercise  a  controling  influence  thnmghout  the  period 
of  youth.  Accordingly,  it  is  from  the  class  of  children  who  re- 
ceive their  impressions  and  form  their  habits  in  tho  streets,  from 
the  age  of  four  to  ten  years,  that  our  reformatories,  jails,  houses 
of  correction  Jind  state  prisons  are  mainly  peopled.  Is  it  possi- 
ble, then,  to  exaggerate  the  importance  to  society  of  institutions 
such  as  those  hero  proposed?  Ought  not  systematic  and  energetic 
measures  to  be  directed  by  legislators,  as  Avell  as  philanthropists, 
to  this  department  of  prevention?  Can  any  system  of  legislation 
which  aims  at  the  sui)pression  and  extinction  of  crime  overlook 
so  potent  an  agency  to  that  end  as  the  one  here  recommended, 
and  yet  lay  claim  to  the  attributes  of  sagacity  and  humanity? 
Here  the  serpent  may  be  crushed  in  the  egg,  the  hydra  strangled 
in  the  birth,  the  harvest  of  evil  nipped  in  its  first  sprouting.  A 
fact  bearing  on  this  subject,  at  once  instructive  and  encouraging, 
is  mentioned  in  a  Government  Report  on  Prisons  in  France.  It 
is  Avorth  repeating  here.  A  vast  ninnber  of  abandoned  children 
in  that  country  are  received,  almost  from  birth,  into  foundling 
asylums,  where  they  arc  cared  for  and  educated,  till  they  arc  of  a 
suital)le  age  to  put  out;  yet  the  number  of  children  reared  in 
these  asylums,  who  have  subsequently  found  their  way  into  prison, 
is  quite  insignificant — a  striking  proof  of  tho  almost  omnipotent 


;  '*  f 


> 


IMAGE  EVALUATION 
TEST  TARGET  (MT-3) 


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33  WEST  MAIN  STREET 

WEBSTER,  N.Y.  M5S0 

(716)  872-4503 


'V 


> 


64 


PBISONS  AMD  REFOBMATOBISS  OF  THE 


power  of  early  (the  veiy  earliest)  moral,  religious,  intellectual 
and  industrial  training,  as  a  security  against  the  commission  of 
crime. 

The  industrial  school,  whether  called  by  that  name  or  some 
other — truant,  ragged,  or  whatever  it  may  be — is  the  next  link, 
the  second  agency  in  th6  preventive  part  of  the  system.  The 
children  of  parents  who  neglect  their  offspring,  either  because 
they  are  vicious  or  indifferent  to  their  welfare— children  who 
roam  the  streets  and  prowl  about  docks  and  wharves,  and  are 
almost  sure  in  the  end  to  take  up  crime  as  a  trade — should  be 
gathered  into  institutions  of  this  class,  where  they  would  receive 
that  mental,  moral  and  industrial  training  which  their  own  homes 
would  never  afford  them,  and  from  which  they  would  at  length 
be  sent  out  to  good  situations  in  the  country,  or  elsewhere,  where 
they  would  grow  into  virtuous  and  useful  citizens,  adding  to, 
instead  of  preying  upon,  the  productive  industry  of  the  country. 
A  few  schools  of  this  sort  have  been  established  with  the  best 
results;  but  nothing  has  been  done  by  them  in  rescuing  vagrant 
9hildren  and  youth  of  both  sexes  from  vice  and  crime,  at  all 
commensurate  with  the  good  that  might  be  effected  in  this  direc- 
tion through  their  agency.  These  schools  should  be  open  to  the 
voluntary  resort  of  neglected  children,  whose  parents,  regardless 
of  their  future  character  and  condition,  leave  them  to  do  for 
themselves,  battling  with  their  hard  lot  as  best  they  may  be  able. 

The  discipline  in  these  industrial  schools  should  be  strictly  of 
the  family  character.  All  the  arrangements  should  be  such  as  to 
cultivate  industrious  habits,  and  prepare  their  inmates  for  the  sta- 
tions they  are  afterwards  to  fill.  The  kitchen,  the  wash-tub,  the 
sewing  and  knitting  room,  the  work  shop,  the  farm,  and,  above 
all,  the  school  room,  together  with  such  recreations  as  may  be  suit- 
able to  their  years,  should  occupy  the  time  of  those  who  find  their 
home  there;  and  this  home  should  be,  though  tidy  and  attractive, 
yet  of  the  plainest  character,  partaking  as  nearly  as  may  be  of  the 
nature  of  the  domestic  departments  of  families  in  moderate  cir;- 
cumstanees.  Criminal  and  vicious  habits  should  be  the  only  bar 
to  reception  here ;  and  children,  tainted  with  such  practices,  should 
in  no  case  be  permitted  to  come  in  contact  with  the  destitute  but 
yet  unfallen  street  children,  for  whom  alone  the  industrial  school 
is  designed.  Should  any  such,  by  mistake,  ever  be  admitted, 
when  discovered,  they  should  be  at  once  transferred  to  institutions, 
whose  distinctive  character  is  reformatory  rather  than  preventive. 


\l 


UNITED  STATES  AND  CANADA. 


6(r 


It  is  confidently  believed  that  if  these  two  classes  of  institu- 
tions— public  nurseries  and  industrial  schools — were  sufficiently 
multiplied  aud  placed  under  judicious  control  and  management, 
and  proper  care  taken  to  keep  them  free  from  those  who  have 
reached  the  point  of  crime,  thousands  of  young  victims  of  paren- 
tal indifference  or  vice  would  be  kept  from  idle  and  vicious  habits, 
aud  from  the  ruin  they  bring  in  their  train;  the  most  prolific 
fountain  of  crime  would  be  cut  off;  and  the  numbers  confined  in 
reformatories  and  prisons  would  be  materially  diminished,  per- 
haps brought  down  almost  to  zero. 

We  have  spoken  of  the  need  of  judicious  management  in  these 
institutions.  Probably  a  union  of  private  and  public  effort  would 
best  secure  the  requisite  wisdom  and  efficiency;  but,  in  any  case, 
liberal  pecuniary  aid  must  be  supplied  by  municipal  aud  legisla- 
tive grants. 

Is  the  expense  of  such  institutions  made  a  point  of  objection? 
Let  it  be  considered — for  of  this  we  are  fully  persuaded — that  a 
judicious  and  effective  system  of  prevention  in  behalf  of  this  class 
of  juveniles  would  be  an  arrangement  the  most  economical  to  the 
public,  as  well  as  the  most  merciful  to  themselves  which  could  be 
made.  To  save  them — and  the  plan  we  propose  would  no  doubt 
be  the  salvation  of  almost  the  entire  class — would  be  to  cut  off 
one  of  the  most  copious  sources  of  adult  crime,  and  of  course  to 
dry  up  an  incessant  and  tremendous  drain  upon  the  wealth  of  the 
state,  through  their  depredations,  Avhen  arrived  at  manhood,  on 
the  property  of  the  citizens. 

The  next  class  of  institutions  in  a  well  organized  penal  sj'^stem, 
is  the  juvenile  reformatory.  These  already  exist  in  most  of  our 
states,  and  New  York  is  better  supplied  with  them  than  any 
others,  except  Massachusetts,  and  possibly  Pennsylvania.  But  in 
all  the  states,  the  system  needs  extension,  and  in  all  there  are 
modifications  by  which  its  organization  might  be  improved.  In 
the  first  place,  there  should  be  everywhere  an  absolute  separation 
of  the  sexes.  Stone  walls  and  iron  gates  are  not  sufficient ;  but 
so  much  space  should  intervene,  that  the  excitement  and  uneasiness 
produced  by  proximity,  missing  its  aliment,  Avould  disappear  alto- 
gether. In  the  second  place,  the  family  principle  should  be  every- 
where adopted,  either  exclusively  or  in  combination  with  the 
congregate.  And,  thirdly,  subdivisions,  now  unknown,  should  be 
introduced  into  the  arrangements  for  each  of  the  sexes.  Of  boy 
criminals,  there  are  three  claases,  viz:  those  who  have  just  entered 

[Assem.  No.  35.]  5 


66 


PRISONS  AND  REFORMATORIES  OF  THE 


on  a  course  of  pilfering;  those  who  have  more  confirmed  habits 
of  steu'.iug  and  lying;  and  those  who,  having  reached  the  ages  of 
sixteen,  seventeen  or  eighteen,  have  become  habitual  thieves,  and 
have  discarded  all  other  means  of  obtaining  a  livelihood.  These 
several  classes  of  juvenile  offenders  require  each  a  different  disci- 
pline and  training,  and  should  never,  if  it  can  be  avoided,  be 
bi'ought  into  contact  with  each  other.  Of  female  juvenile  crimi- 
nals, there  are  but  two  classes  requiring  different  treatment,  viz: 
those  who  have  formed  only  habits  of  pilfering  and  idleness,  and 
those  who  have  addicted  themselves  to  unchaste  practices.  The 
classifications  named  in  both  sexes  require,  in  order  to  secure  the 
best  results,  separate  houses  and  yards,  not  to  contain,  if  possible, 
over  one  hundred  inmates,  with  subdivisions  of  (say)  twenty  to 
twenty-five,  constituting  so  many  distinct  fai)! lies,  each  with  its 
own  eating,  sitting,  reading  and  sleeping  rooms. 

There  is  a  principle,  applicable  to  the  management  of  all  the 
institutions  thus  far  included  in  our  proposed  system,  extensively 
employed  in  other  countries,  but  nowhere  in  our  own,  so  far  an  is 
known  to  us; — we  mean  the  principle  of  holding  the  parent 
responsible  for  the  conduct  and  maintenance  of  his  child,  till  he 
arrive  at  years  of  discretion,  and  the  enforcement  of  that  respon- 
sibility by  the  strong  arm  of  the  law.  And  what  can  be  more 
reasonable  and  just  than  this  principle?  Why  should  a  parent, 
whose  own  indifference  or  vices  have  been  the  occasion  of  leading 
his  child  into  crime,^  be  freed  from  all  expense  on  account  of  that 
child,  the  moment  he  turns  thief,  or  when  the  state,  acting  in 
loco  parentis,  removes  him  to  a  preventive  institution,  where  the 
evil  influences  of  his  natural  home  may  be  counteracted,  and  their 
disastrous  consequences  averted?  It  is  our  opinion  that  the  parent 
whose  child  falls  into  crime  should  be*  compelled,  except  in  y 
liar  cases,  to  pay  the  cost  of  its  maintenance  in  a  prevent  iv> 
reformatory  institution,  or,  in  default,,  be  deprived  of  his  liberty 
and  forced  to  toil  to  that  end.  Is  it  said  that  such  a  rule  would 
press  hard  on  parents?  But  the  expense  and  loss  niiist  fall  o^i 
somebody;  and,  surely^  it  is  less  bard  that  it  should  full  on  the 
child's  parent  than  on  any  ©ne  else.  Two  advantages  would 
result  from  the  enforcement  of  this  principle.  First,  it  would 
relieve  the  public,  in  part,,  of  the  burden  of  supporting  its  ne- 
glected and  criminal  children;  but,  secondly,  and  chiefly,  the  fear 
of  compelled  contribution  to  the  support  of  their  children  in  an 
industrial  or  reformatory  school,  would  be  a  strong  motive,  in 


UNITED  STATES  AND  CANADA. 


6T 


the  absence  of  higer  ones,  to  a  greater '  care  of  their  education 
and  conduct,  so  that  the  burden  thus  entailed  might  be  avoided. 
This  principle  haa  worked  well,  wherever  it  has  been 
tried.  Even  in  Ireland,  where,  from  the  extreme  poverty  of  the 
classes  from  which  the  occupants  of  juvenile  reformatories  are 
supplied,  it  was  supposed,  even  by  those  who  placed  the  highest 
value  upon  it,  that  it  would  be  of  little  avail,  within  two  years 
from  the  establishment  of  reformatories  in  that  country,  nearly 
$1,500  had  been  recovered  from  the  parents  of  their  inmates;  and 
this,  notwithstanding  the  fact  that  sixty  per  cent,  of  the  children 
received  were  orphans,  having  lost  one  or  both  of  their  parents. 

The  next  class  in  the  series  of  institutious,  composing  what  we 
would  deem  an  effective  prison  system,  is  the  county  jail.  These 
should  be  made,  in  our  judgment,  simply  houses  of  detention, 
and  their  punitive  character  be  entirely  taken  away.  The  great 
evil  of  our  present  jail  system,  as  has  been  again  and  again  urged 
in  the  reports  of  the  Prison  Association,  is  the  promiscuous  inter- 
course of  the  prisoners,  there  being,  in  general,  no  classification, 
except  that  which  results  from  an  imperfect  separation  of  the 
sexes.  From  this  unchecked  association,  it  results  that  our  county 
jails  are  but  public  schools,  maintained  at  the  expense  of  the 
community,  for  the  encouragement  of  vice,  and  for  providing  an 
unbroken  succession  of  thieves,  burglars  and  profligates;  institu- 
tions in  which,  as  Sidney  Smith  observed  forty  years  ago,  "  the 
petty  larcenous  stripling,  being  left  destitute  of  every  species  of 
employment,  and  locked  up  with  accomplished  villains,  as  idle  as 
himself,  listens  to  their  pleasant  narrative  of  successful  crime, 
and  pants  for  the  hour  of  freedom,  that  he  may  begin  the  same 
bold  and  interesting  career."  This  evil,  which  is  a  blot  on  our 
civilization,  can  be  cured  only  by  a  radical  change  of  the  system. 
Our  existing  jails,  which,  for  the  most  part,  require  demolition 
on  other  grounds,  must  be  pulled  down,  and  reconstructed  on 
principles,  which  will  admit  the  enforcement  (and  this  must 
be,  in  all  cases,  rigidly  exacted,)  of  an  absolute  separation  of 
the  prisoners  throughout  the  whole  period  of  their  incarceration. 
But  on  all  these  points,  and  others  connected  with  the  improve- 
ment of  our  common  jails,  we  shall  have  occasion  to  express  our 
views  more  at  large,  and  to  enforce  them  with  such  arguments 
as  may  seem  suitable,  in  a  subsequent  part  of  this  report. 

Next  in  the  ascending  series  would  come  a  class  of  prisons  inter- 
mediate between  the  county  jail   and  the  state  prison  proper. 


63 


PRISONS  AND  REFORMATORIES  OF  THE 


Prisons  of  this  sort  havo  received  iliffercnt  designations  in  differ- 
ent stntes.  In  Mnssachusctts,  the  only  state  where  there  is  any- 
tiling  like  a  general  system  of  snch  institutions,  they  are  called 
houses  of  correcfion;  in  New  York,  where  they  are  purely  local 
institutions,  created  by  special  statutes  for  particular  counties, 
they  receive  the  name  of  penitentiaries  or  workhouses;  and  in 
Cannon,  where  the  Board  of  Prison  Inspectors  is  pressing  the 
Legislature  for  their  creation,  they  are  to  he  designated  (at  least 
such  is  the  title  proposed)  central  prisons,  and  are  to  form  one  of 
the  links  iii  the  general  prison  system  of  the  country.  We  ven- 
ture to  suggest  the  name  of  district  prisons  for  New  York,  when- 
ever (if  ever)  there  shall  ho  a  reconstruction  of  the  prison  system 
of  the  state,  in  accordance  with  the  general  views  suJ)mitted  in 
the  present  paper.  These  district  prisons  should  bo  dispersed 
through  the  state,  at  points  as  convenient  us  possible  to  the  seve- 
ral counties  for  whoso  use  each  is  intended  to  serve.  The  counties 
that  have  already  been  at  the  troid)le  and  expense  of  erecting  and 
organizing  local  penitentiaries  need  not  change  their  existing  sys- 
tem, unless  they  prefer  to  sell  or  lease  their  several  establish- 
ments to  the  state,  and  so  become  incorporated  into  the  general 
system. 

It  is  clear  that  our  common  jails  are  not  now,  and  never  can  be 
made,  houses  of  correction  in  the  proper  sense — places  for  the 
reformation  of  criminals.  The  fact  that  they  are  mere  places  of 
detention  to  the  majority  of  their  inmates,  the  circumstance  that 
the  sentences  of  those  contincd  in  them  for  punishment  are,  and 
are  likely  ever  to  be,  too  short  to  admit  of  the  application  of 
roformatorj'  processes,  the  constant  flux  in  their  ])opulntions,  the 
difHculty  of  organizing  and  enforcing  a  system  of  labor,  without 
which  there  can  be  no  reformation,  and,  above  all,  the  want  of  a 
proi)er  staff  of  officers,  especially  of  chaplains  and  teachers,  ren- 
der it  certain  that  common  jails  can  never  be  converted  into 
reformatory  institutions.  If,  therefore,  there  are  to  bo  any  such, 
below  the  grade  of  the  state  prison,  as  part  and  parcel  of  a  gene- 
ral prison  system,  it  must  be  by  the  establishment  of  the  institu- 
tions here  proposed,  or  others  of  a  like  character. 

The  advantages  to  be  expected  from  the  establishment  of  dis- 
trict prisons  are  the  following: 

1.  The  organization  of  the  prisons,  each  with  a  full  staff  of  offi- 
cers, and  all  other  appointments  necessary  to  their  proper  and 
effective  working  as  true  houses  of  correction. 


UNITBO  STATB8  AND  CANADA. 


60 


2.  The  arrangement  of  buildings,  cells,  workshops,  schoolrooms, 
chapels  and  premises  generally,  as  to  kind  and  construction,  suit* 
able  to  a  complete  penitentiary,  system. 

3.  The  introduction  of  a  comprehensive,  well*a(\justcd  system 
of  labor,  a  result  that  can  never  be  attained  in  our  common  jails, 
but  rendered  comparatively  cosy  in  the  district  prisons,  in  conse* 
quence  of  the  larger  staff  of  officers,  the  greater  number  of  pri* 
soncrs,  and  the  increased  length  of  their  sentences. 

4.  Diminished  cost  of  maintenance,  despite  the  increase  of  offi> 
cers,  owing  in  part  to  the  earnings  of  the  convicts  and  in  part  to 
greater  economy  in  the  administration.  The  county  jails  we 
believe  to  l)e  at  present  the  most  costly  of  our  prisons,  from  the 
enormous  prices  paid  to  sheriffs  by  the  county  authorities  for  the 
board  of  prisoners,  being,  in  one  case  at  least,  as  high  as  $6.16  per 
week,  and  in  others  approximating  to  that  figure — almost  hotel 
prices. 

5.  The  relief  of  the  common  jails  by  the  absence  from  them  of 
a  large  proportion  of  their  worst  and  most  frequent  inmates, 
which  would  make  the  separate  imprisonment  of  the  rest  com- 
paratively cosy,  and  that  at  a  moderate  cost  for  the  necessary 
buildings,  especially  when  taken  in  connection  with  another 
reform,  to  be  hereafter  noticed,  viz.:  the  more  speedy  trial  of  per- 
sons arrested  for  crime,  and  held  in  custody  to  that  end. 

6.  The  relief  of  the  state  prisons  by  the  punishment  in  the  dis- 
trict prisons  of  all  convicts  sentenced  for  terms  not  exceeding 
three  years,  and  perhaps  also  first  offenders  and  young  criminals 
with  even  longer  sentences,  according  to  the  circumstances  attend- 
ing their  several  cases.     But 

7.  The  crowning  recommendation  of  the  system  of  district 
prisons,  here  proposed,  lies  in  the  reformatory  character  to  be 
impressed  upon  their  administration.  This,  indeed,  is  the  great 
point  to  be  sought  and  secured  in  their  establishment.  We  Avill 
not  now  stay  to  enter  into  a  detail  of  the  means — religious,  moral, 
educational  and  industrial — through  which  this  end  is  to  be 
reached.  But  there  is  one  point  on  which,  in  this  connexion,  we 
feel  constrained  to  offer  a  few  remarks.  The  absurd  practice  of 
short  repeated  imprisonments  must  be  discontinued,  or  all  thought 
of  reformation  abandoned.  Reformatory  processes  can  have  no 
time  to  take  effect  under  such  a  system.  On  no  subject  are  the 
enlightened  friends  of  prison  reform,  and  especially  the  governors 
of  our  penitentiaries,  more  generally  agreed  than  on  the  utter 


70 


PRISONS  AND  BBFOBMATOBIES  OF  THB 


^vorthlcssiiess  of  these  repeated  short  imprisonments ;  while  the 
indirect  expense  to  society  in  arrests  and  prosecutions,  and  yet 
more  in  the  amount  of  property  of  >vhich  it  is  plundered  in  the 
intervals  between  the  imprisonments,  is  enormous.  The  object  of 
all  reformatory  prison  treatment  is  to  conquer,  in  the  prisoner, 
his  habits  of  evil ;  to  train  him  in  the  ways  of  virtuous  industry  ; 
to  sunder  the  tie  that  binds  him  to  his  associates  in  crime  ;  to  ex- 
tinguish in  him  the  desire  and  the  tendency  to  herd  with  them 
again,  and  so  to  discipline  him  that  he  may  go  buck  into  the 
world  with  some  settled  principle  and  some  steady  purpose  of 
virtue.  To  effect  these  changes  time,  and  no  inconsiderable 
amount  of  it,  is  absolutely  essential ;  and  all,  without  exception, 
who  have  given  attention  to  the  subject,  concur  in  the  belief  that 
ghort  sentences,  at  least  in  the  great  majority  of  cases,  are  not 
only  useless  but  pernicious.  Excessive  leniency  in  the  adminis- 
tration of  criminal  law  is  an  evil  scarcely  less  deplorable  than 
excessive  harshness.  To  be  sternly  resolute  in  the  infliction  of 
necessary  pain  is  as  much  a  duty  as  it  is  to  decline  the  infliction  of 
any  that  is  not  necessary ;  and  especially  where  the  object  is  not 
to  punish  vindictively,  but  to  redeem  and  save,  no  hesitation 
should  be  felt  in  awarding  a  sentence  adequate  to  the  accomplish- 
ment of  that  great  purpose.  The  sentence,  whose  brevity  deprives 
the  criminal  of  the  full  advantage  of  reformatory  influences,  is  to 
him  not  a  mercy,  but  a  cruelty,  while  to  society  it  is  an  injustice 
and  a  wrong. 

The  proposed  increased  length  of  the  sentences  to  be  awarded 
to  misdemeanants,  and  especially  those  who,  by  the  frequent  repe- 
tition of  minor  offenses,  evince  a  proclivity  to  crime,  would  involve 
the  necessity  of  some  changes  in  the  criminal  laws  of  the  state, 
particularly  as  to  what  should  constitute  a  habitual  or  inveterate 
offender — a  "recidivist"  in  technical  phrase,  in  common  parlance 
a  "  revolver."  But  these  changes  could  be  easily  made,  and  when 
made  would  be,  as  already  intimated,  no  less  to  the  real  interest 
of  the  transgressor  than  to  that  of  society,  whose  laws  ho  had 
violated. 

Without  intending  to  burden  the  present  paper  with  needless 
details,  we  would  suggest,  just  here,  that,  if  the  proposition  for 
district  prisons  should  ever  be  made  the  basis  of  legislation,  it 
would  be  desirable  on  moral,  sanitary,  economic  and  administra- 
tive grounds,  that  the  prisons  for  women  should  be  separate  from 


UNITED  STATES  AND  CANADA. 


n 


those  for  men,  the  two  being  in  distinct  buildings  and  at  a  dis* 
tance  from  each  other. 

Such  separation  is  desirable  on  moral  grounds,  because  whore 
the  two  sexes  are  confined  in  the  same  building  or  the  same 
enclosure,  the  very  fact  of  this  contiguity  has  an  exciting  and  bad 
effect,  and  leads  to  endleds  attempts  to  communicate,  which  are 
not  unfrequently,  against  all  probability,  successful.  Even  when 
both  sight  and  hearing  are  impossible  the  mind  will  still  work 
where  there  is  proximity,  and  evil  consequences  will  many  times 
be  the  result. 

It  is  desirable  on  sanitary  grounds,  because  where  prisoners  of 
different  sexes  are  confined  in  the  same  building  or  enclosure  it  is 
often  necessary  to  impede  light  and  ventilation  by  half  closing 
windows,  and  by  putting  doors  across  passages  which  would 
otherwise  be  left  open,  thus  violating  the  laws  of  hygiene  and 
obstructing  an  important  condition  of  health. 

It  is  desirable  on  economic  grounds,  because,  first,  prisons  built 
at  less  expense  would  be  sufficiently  secure  for  females ;  and 
secondly,  the  management  would  cost  less,  as  female  keepeis 
would  require  less  pay. 

It  is  desirable  on  administrative  grounds,  because,  in  prisons 
where  there  are  inmates  of  both  sexes,  there  is  always  a  difficulty 
in  apportioning  the  responsibility  of  the  warden  and  matron.  A 
woman  is  at  least  as  able  to  govern  female  prisoners  as  a  man,  and 
she  will  certainly  govern  better,  abstractly  considered,  when  the 
whole  responsibility  concerning  them  rests  upon  her.  But  in  a 
prison  occupied  by  both  males  and  females,  such  undivided  re- 
sponsibility cannot  be  lodged  in  the  matron  without  creating  two 
separate  and  independent  authorities  in  the  same  building,  which 
is  contrary  to  all  sound  principles  of  administration.  In  such 
cases,  therefore,  on  the  one  hand,  the  matron  is  necessarily  made 
sul)ordinate  to  the  warden,  and,  as  a  consequence,  the  Avarden  is 
made  responsible  for  a  number  of  matters,  of  which  he  can  know 
but  little;  and,  on  the  other,  the  influence  of  the  matron  is  im- 
paired by  her  not  possessing  full  authority  either  over  her  subor- 
dinate officers  or  over  the  prisoners. 

Next  and  last  in  the  series  of  establishments  which  we  pro- 
pose as  fit  to  constitute  one  comprehensive  prison  system  for  our 
state — consisting  of  preventive,  reformatory  and  punitive  institu- 
tions— is  the  state  prison  proper,  the  receptacle  of  criminals  con- 
victed of  the  gravest  offences  against  society  and  its  laws  which 


72 


PRISONS  AND  REFORMATORIES  Of  THE 


arc  punishable  by  itnprisonmont,  and  not  by  death.  It  i»  hero, 
vfG  conceive,  that  are  needed  reforms  the  most  material  and  radi- 
cal. Even  supposing  the  buildings  to  be  retained  as  they  are, 
and  the  system  in  its  substratum  to  continue  unchanged,  still  im- 
portant modifications  are  needed  to  bring  our  state  prisons  into 
harmony  with  the  true  design  of  a  penitentiary  system,  considered 
as  an  agency  for  reforming  and  reclainn'ng  fallen  men  and  women. 
A  complete  separation  of  the  government  of  these  prisons  from 
party  politics;  permanence  in  their  executive  administration, 
eflected  by  a  permanent  tenure  of  official  position  therein;  the 
employment  of  officers  possessing  a  higher  grade  of  qualifications; 
the  investiture  of  the  wardens  with  the  power  of  appointing  and 
removing  all  the  officers  who  conistitute  the  police  force  of  the 
prisons;  the  total  abolishment  of  the  contract  systcLi,  and  the 
organization  of  the  convict  labor  upon  a  principle  whicli,  in  seek- 
ing to  make  the  prisons  self-supporting,  will  seek  still  more  to 
make  their  industries  an  agency  in  reforming  the  prisoners  and 
restoring  them  to  society,  masters  of  a  business  that  will  enable 
them  to  earn  an  honest  livelihood;  greater  breadth  and  efficiency 
given  both  to  religious  and  secular  instruction;  the  introduction 
of  a  carefully  devised  system  of  rewards  as  an  encouragement  to 
good  conduct  and  industry,  so  that  the  principle  of  hope  shall 
act  with  even  greater  vigor  than  that  of  fear;  and  the  making  of 
the  reformation  of  the  prisoners  the  real,  as  it  is  admitted  to  be 
the  proper,  object  of  the  discipline  of  the  prisons  and  of  the 
efforts  of  the  officers  in  carrying  it  into  effect; — such  are  the  essen- 
tial reforms  needed  in  the  system,  supposing  it  to  remain  in  other 
respects  what  it  is  at  present. 

But  we  are  not  satisfied  with  the  system  as  it  is;  we  think  it 
deficient  in  some  very  important  particulars,  and  wc  ardently 
desire  to  sec  it  replaced  with  a  better.  Neither  have  we  any 
hesitation  in  expressing  the  opinion  that  what  is  known  and  has 
become  famous  as  the  Irish  system  of  convict  prisons  is,  upon  the 
whole,  the  best  model  of  which  we  have  any  knowledge;  and  it 
has  stood  the  test  of  experience  in  yielding  the  most  abundant  as 
well  as  the  best  fruits.  We  believe  that  in  its  broad,  general 
principles^ — not  certainly  in  all  its  details — it  may  be  applied, 
with  entire  effect,  in  our  own  country  and  our  own  state.  What, 
then,  is  the  Irish  system?  In  one  word,  it  may  be  defined  as  an 
adult  reformatory,  where  the  object  is  to  teach  and  train  the 
prisoner  in  such  a  manner  that,  on  his  discharge,  he  may  be  able 


UNITED  STATES  AND  OAXADA. 


73 


to  resist  temptation  and  inclined  to  lead  an  upright,  worthy  life. 
Reformation,  in  other  words,  is  made  the  Hcttml  us  well  as  the 
d(!clared  object.  This  is  done  by  placing  the  prisoner's  fote,  as 
fur  us  possible,  in  his  own  hands;  by  enabling  him,  through  indus- 
try und  good  conduct,  to  raise  himself,  step  by  step,  to  u  position 
of  loss  restraint;  while  idleness  und  bad  conduct,  on  the  other 
bund,  keep  him  in  a  state  of  coercion  and  restraint. 

There  are  four  distinct  stages  in  the  prisoner's  progress,  under 
this  system — the  first  intensely  penal  ;  the  second  less  so,  but  still 
strongly  partaking  of  that  charucter  ;  the  third  but  slightly  penal ; 
and  the  fourth  looing  the  penal  aspect  entirely,  unless  subjection 
for  a  time  to  police  supervision  mtxy  be  so  regarded  in  a  degree. 
In  the  first  stage,  the  prisoner  is  confined  for  eight  months  in  a 
celhilur  prison;  is  completely  isolated  from  nil  his  fellow  pris- 
oners ;  und,  during  the  whole  period,  works  in  his  own  cell.    This 
is  the  hardest  and  consequently  the  most  deterrent  part  of  his  im- 
prisonment ;  yet  even  this  period  may  be  abridged  liy  good  con- 
duct, as  it  may  be  lengthened  by  bad.     In  the  second  stage,  he  is 
employed  on  jiublic  works  in  associated  labor  by  day,  but  is  con- 
fined in  a  solitary  cell  at  night,  and  the  strictest  surveillance  is 
maintained  over  him.     Nevertheless,  he  has  here  every  advantage 
of  religious  training,  of  books  of  a  miscellaneous  though  moral 
character,  and  of  instruction  in  secular  knowledge  by  the  lessons 
and  lectures  of  competent  school  musters.     On  entering  this  de- 
partment, the  prisoner  is  placed  in  the  third  class ;  from  which, 
by  industry,  application  and  good  conduct,  all  carefully  measured 
by  a  system  of  marks,  he  rises  into  the  second  class  ;  thence,  by  a 
like  probation  successfully   passed,  into  the  first ;  and,  finally, 
through  the  same  process,  into  the  exemplary  class.     At  each  ad- 
vance, his  condition  is  improved ;  his  privileges  are  enlarged ; 
aud,  particularly,  the  percentage  of  his  earnings,  placed  to  his 
credit  and  designed  ultimately  for  his  own  use,  is  increased.     All 
along,  however,  misconduct  is  punished  by  putting  the  ofiTender 
back  one  or  more  steps,  and  even,  if  need  be,  to  the  cellular 
prison  itself,  from  which  he  has  to  work  his  waj'  forward  again  by 
slow  and  toilsome  efforts.     The  third  stage  is  the  intermediate 
prison,  so  called  because  its  inmates  are  in  a  state  intermediate 
between  imprisonment,   properly  so  called,  and  freedom.     Here 
they  have  almost  as  much  liberty  as  if  they  were  not  prisoners  at 
all ;  they  work,  some  at  mechanical  and  others  at  farm  labor, 
without  overseers  ;  they  arc  trusted,  constantly  and  without  hesi- 


74 


PRISONS  AND  RBF0RMAT0RIB8  OF  TBI 


tation,  to  go  of  errands  unywhoro  in  tlio  city  of  Dublin  or  the 
coinitry  ;  tlio  oducntion,  curriod  on  previously,  is  continued  nnd 
grcutly  extended,   through   duily   lectures  i>y  an  accomplished 
teacher  on  interesting  moral  und  practical  subjects,  nnd  u  ho^  of 
competitive  inter-examination  weekly,  conducted  by  the  prisoners 
themselves  ;  und  the  gratuities  from  their  own  earnings  are  in- 
creased, out  of  which  they  are  permitted,  if  such  is  their  pleasure, 
to  spend  6d  a  week  (12  cents  of  our  currency)  in  procuring  addi« 
tional  comforts  for  themselves ;  which  sum,  however,  is  generally 
saved,  and  added  to  their  little  capital,  the  result  of  their  hoard- 
ings throughout  their  prison  life.    Indeed,  the  main  design  of  this 
permission  is  to  cultivate  the  habit  of  providence  and  thrift.     It 
should  be  stated  that  the  convicts  in  the  intermediate  prison  hold 
their  position  there  under  very  serious  responsibitios  ;  since,  for 
any  offence,  however  small,  they  are  returned  to  their  former  cellular 
prison,  whence  they  nnist  win  their  way  back,  as  before,  by  a 
course  of  exemplary  conduct  and  diligent  application  to  work  and 
lessons.     The  fourth  stage  is  that  in  which  prisoners,  the  requisite 
portion  of  whose  sentence  has  expired,  having  had  their  cases  in- 
vestigated and  being  found  worthy,  receive  a  conditional  pardon, 
and  arc  discharged  on  ticket-of-lcave.     As  long  as  their  tickets-of- 
leave  continue  in  force,  there  is  in  Ireland,  contrary  to  what  hap- 
pens in  England,*  a  bona  fide  police  supervision  kept  up  over  the 
prisoner,  and,  on  his  i-olapse,  or  even  if  found  without  visible 
means  of  support  and  associating  with  bad  characters,  his  pardon 
is  revoked,  and  he  is  remitted  to  prison  to  commence  anew  the 
course  of  reformation.     While  it  mav  be  doubtful  whether,  owinjr 
to  the  numerous  separate  jurisdictions  existing  in  our  country,  the 
ticket-of-leave  system  can  ever  be  fully  adopted  among  us,  it  may 
be  modified,  or,  if  necessary,  even  abandoned  altogether,  without 
seriously  affecting  the  general  theory  on  which  the  Irish  prisons 
are  framed.     In  adopting  this  plan,  the  advocates  of  the  separate 


*  On  the  general  subject  of  the  English  convict  prisons,  the  Hon.  M.  D.  Hill,  late  Re- 
corder of  Birmingham,  in  a  recent  letter  to  the  corresponding  secretary  of  the  prison  asso- 
ciation, holds  this  language  :  <<  Your  remarks  on  the  state,  of  our  oonrict  prisons,  as  rep- 
resented in  Miss  Carpenter's  book  ["Our  Convicts "],  arc  well  founded,  as  showing  a 
lamentable  state  of  things  ;  but  great  improvements  hare  been  made  since  she  wrote,  and 
our  English  convict  prisons  are  now  assimilated,  in  a  considerable  degree,  to  those  of  Ire- 
land, the  conduct  and  results  of  which  are  admirable."  We  believe  that  Sir  Walter  Crof- 
ton,  the  father  of  the  Irish  system,  is  now  at  the  bead  of  the  English  prison  system,  being 
10  employed  by  the  government,  with  a  view  of  organising  that  system,  as  far  as  ciroum- 
«tanoes  will  permit,  on  the  Irish  plan. 


UNITED  BTATI8  AND  OANADJt 


76 


anil  congregate  systems  of  imprisonment  may  moot  on  common 
grounds.  Wo  may  state  in  this  connexion — and  it  is  pertinent  so 
to  do — that  the  inspectors  of  the  MaMsuchusctts  state  prison,  in 
tlioir  report  for  ]8()<i,  favor  tlie  introduction  into  the  penal  »y8tem 
of  that  commonwealth  of  a  modified  form  of  tlie  tiuket-of-leavo 
Byi^tem.  After  referring  to  the  mistakes  >vhioh  they  hnve  them- 
selves  sometimes  made  in  seeking  tho  interposition  of  executive 
clemency  in  hcludf  of  convicts,  whose  good  behaviour  und  seem- 
ing penitence  appeared  to  justify  their  application,  und  of  the 
general  risk  of  an  unconditional  pardon  as  being  such  as  justly  to 
deter  tho  executive  from  using  this  function  -with  great  freedom, 
they  add  that  the  executive  clemency  may  be  more  safely  exercised 
ill  tho  form  of  a  conditional  pardon,  which  is  tho  essence  of  the 
ticket-of-lcavo  system,  to  be  revoked  whenever  the  conduct  of  the 
released  prisoner  is  such  as  to  show  that  he  is  unworthy  of  the 
liberty  and  privilege  extended. to  him.  They  then  promise  to 
present  tho  "  many  arguments  in  favor  of  such  a  measure,"  when 
the  subject  is  brought  to  tho  notice  of  tho  Legislature,  then 
"  soon  to  convene." 

Tho  results  of  this  system  have  been  most  extraordinary  (we 
have  not  space  for  details)  both  as  regards  tho  reformation  of 
criminals  and  relief  from  trouble  in  tho  disposal  of  discharged 
convicts.  In  respect  to  the  latter  of  these  points,  the  difficulty  is 
no  longer  for  released  prisoners  to  obtain  employment,  but  for 
employers  to  obtain  tho  prisoners  Avhom  they  want,  the  demand 
for  their  services  being  in  advance  of  the  supply. 

Now,  for  our  state  prisons,  we  propose,  not  certainly  the  adop- 
tion of  tho  Irish  system  in  all  its  adniinistrativo  details,  but  a  sys- 
tem based  upon  its  principles  and  conforming  to  its  general 
methods.  Neither  would  wo  have  tho  system,  even  to  this  extent, 
adopted  and  put  in  force  all  at  once,  but  cautiously  and  gradually, 
on  a  small  scale  at  first,  with  opportunity  to  watch  its  operation 
and  to  correct  errors  by  the  results  of  experience,  and  only  as 
public  sentiment  should  lend  its  sanction  and  support  to  the 
change. 

But  the  state  has  not  discharged  its  whole  duty  to  the  crimini- 
nnl,  when  it  has  punished  him  for  his  fault;  no,  nor  even  when  it 
has  reformed  him.  Its  obligation  towards  him  does  not  cease 
wlien  it  opens  his  prison  door,  and  bids  him  walk  forth  in  free- 
dom. Having  raised  him  up,  it  has  tho  still  further  duty  to  aid 
in  holding  him  up.     Some  systematic  provision  to  this  end  is  the 


76 


PSTSONS  AND  REFORMATORIES  OF  THE 


ii 


ii 


essential  complement  to  any  effective  plan  of  reformatory  punish* 
ment.  In  vain  shall  we  have  given  the  convict  an  improved  mind 
and  heart,  in  vain  shall  we  have  given  him  capacity  for  continnous 
labor  and  the  desire  to  advance  himself  by  worthy  means,  if  on 
his  discharge  he  finds  the  world  as  it  were,  in  conspiracy  against 
him,  with  none  to  trust  him,  none  to  meet  him  kindly,  none  to 
givo  him  the  opportunity  of  earning  honest  bread.  The  willing 
laborer  can  get  no  work  to  do.  The  man  who  yearns  to  prove 
himself  worthy  of  association  with  the  virtuous  and  the  good  is 
repelled,  as  if  contact  with  him  were  pestilential.  His  good  pur- 
pases  are  defeated,  and  his  hope  of  redemption  vanishes.  What 
can  such  a  man  do,  if  he  live  at  all,  but  live  as  a  criminal?  What 
though  his  reformation  bo  genuine,  can  it  be  permanent?  Impos- 
sible! He  will  surely  be  clutched  again  by  his  old  jissociates  in 
crime,  and  drawn  back  to  the  abyss  of  sin,  from  which  he  had 
vainly  hoped  and  labored  to  emerge.  So  it  has  been,  too  often 
and  too  generally;  and  so  it  is,  still. 

Under  these  circumstances,  it  is  the  clear  duty  of  the  state,  as 
it  is  also  no  less  clearly,  her  triio  policy,  after  discharging  her 
convicts  from  her  prisons,  to  institute  some  agency,  by  refuges 
or  otherwise,  whereby,  after  their  release,  they  may  be  strength- 
ened in  their  good  resolutions,  provided  with  situations,  and,  in 
all  suitable  wa^'s,  encouraged  and  aided  in  their  efforts  to  reform. 
Massachusetts,  we  have  seen,  has  a  state  agent  to  care  for  her  male 
convicts  on  their  discharge,  and  two  refuges  for  females  of  the 
same  class — these  latter  being  private  establishments,  but  receiv- 
ing grants  of  money  from  the  state  in  aid  of  their  benevolent  work. 
Ireland  has  a  commissioner  to  look  after  her  liberated  male  pris- 
oners, and  two  well  conducted,  efficient  refuges,  one  Catholic, 
the  other  Protestant,  to  receive,  temporarily  support,  and  provide 
places  for,  her  discharged  female  prisoners.  In  France,  the  Asso- 
ciation of  St.  Vincent  do  Paul  counts  this  care  for  liberated  pri- 
soners, thousands  of  whom  have  received  the  benefits  of  its  assist- 
ance, among  its  noblest  functions,  its  most  loved  and  cherished  labors. 
But  in  Bavaria,  avc  have  an  example  of  the  broadest  and  most  sys- 
tematic provision  to  this  end.  There  is,  in  that  country,  a 
complete  national  organization,  having  this  object  in  view, 
including  a  society  for  every  province,  and  a  committee  for  every 
district.  Six  weeks  before  the  discharge  of  a  prisoner,  n«»tice  of 
such  discharge  is  given  by  the  governor  of  the  prison  to  the  dis- 
trict committee,  with  a  full  account  of  his  character  and  habits, 


UNITED  STATES  AND  CANADA. 


n 


the  amount  of  money  earned  by  him  during  his  imprisonment, 
nnd  the  circumstances  which  warrant  the  extension  of  assistance 
to  him;  and  the  committee,  using  its  discretion  as  to  each  indi- 
vidual case,  supplies  to  those  who  are  worthy  of  it  productive 
occupation,  and  maintains  a  watchful  supervision  over  them.  The 
Prison  Association  of  New  York,  whose  servants  we  are  in  the 
present  labor,  within  a  limited  sphere  has  done  an  important 
work  in  this  department  of  benevolent  effort;  and  at  the  very 
moment  Ave  are  penning  these  paragraphs,  some  public-spirited 
ladies  of  Buffalo  are  engaged  in  the  work  of  organizing  a  home 
for  released  female  prisoners,  with  a  view  to  their  redemption 
from  farther  bondage  to  criminal  practices. 

We  repeat,  therefore,  that  in  any  reorganization  of  the  prison 
system  of  New  York,  an  essential  complement  of  it  will  be  some 
provision  for  the  assistance  and  security  of  released  prisoners. 


SECTION  SECOND. 
General  Administration. 

In  none  of  the  states  of  the  American  Union,  visited  by  the 
undersigned,  is  there  any  central  authority  having  a  general  power 
of  control  and  direction  over  the  entire  prison  system  of  the  state. 
The  nearest  approach  to  such  authority  (which,  indeed,  is  scarcely 
an  approach  to  it  at  all)  is  in  Massachusetts,  where  the  Board  of  State 
Charities  has,  to  a  certain  extent,  an  oversight  over  the  whole  sys- 
tem, but  no  power  of  government,  properly  so  called.  Except  in 
the  right  conferred  by  law  of  exacting  statistical  returns  from  the 
prisons,  according  to  forms  prepared  by  the  Board,  this  body  has 
little  more  actual  power  than  the  Prison  Association  of  New  York; 
the  main  function  of  the  former,  like  that  of  the  latter,  being  in- 
spection and  recommendation.  In  Canada  we  found  a  central 
authority,  having  a  sort  of  general  control  (but  with  powers  too 
limited)  over  all  the  penal  as  well  as  other  public  institutions  of 
the  country,  whose  legal  title  is:  "A  board  of  inspectors  of  public 
as}  lums,  hospitals,  the  provincial  penitentiary,  awd  of  all  county 
jails  and  other  prisons."  Further  on,  in  this  section,  we  shall 
have  occasion  to  describe  more  fully  the  organization,  powere  and 
duties  of  the  said  board  of  inspectors. 

The  general  supervision  and  control  of  the  state  prisons,  in  the 
states  visited  by  the  commissioners,  is  lodged  in  boards  of  inspec- 


78 


PRISONS  AND  REFORMATORIES  OF  THE 


tors — sometimes  called  directors — varying  from  two  to  five  in 
number,  the  more  common  number  being  tliree.  These  inspectors 
are  commonly  appointed  either  by  the  legislatures  or  the  gover- 
nors; in  New  England  by  the  governor  and  council;  but  in  Penn- 
sylvania they  are  appointed  by  the  supreme  court,  a  separate 
board  of  live|^members  for  each  of  the  two  state  penitentiaries, 
the  eastern  and  western.  In  New  York  alone  are  they  elected  by 
popular  vote — one  board  of  three  members  for  all  three  of  the 
state  prisons.  Missouri' has  a  peculiar  arrangement,  by  which  the 
auditor,  treasurer  and  attorney  general  of  the  state  constitute  the 
board  of  inspectors,  all  ex-officio  members — a  bad  plan.  In  New 
Hampshire  there  is  no  board  of  inspectors,  the  governor  and 
council  acting  in  that  capacity.  Neither  is  there  any  such  author- 
ity in  Wisconsin,  the  Avhole  power  of  government  being  in  the 
hands  of  an  oflScer  cabled  the  state  prison  commissioner.  He  is 
both  warden  and  treasurer.  He  is  elected  by  the  people  at  the 
same  time  and  in  the  same  manner  as  the  governor  and  other 
state  oflScers,  and  holds  his  oflSce  for  two  years. 

The  legal  powers  of  the  inspectors  ditfer  somewhat  in  different 
states;  practically  they  differ  much  more,  ranging  from  almost 
nothing,  as  in  Kentucky,  to  an  almost  absolute  control,  as  in  Ncav 
York.  These  officers  are  not  usually  appointed  all  at  the  same 
time,  but,  for  the  most  part,  one  each  year.  They  have  a  foolish 
law  in  Massachusetts,  if  it  is  not  worse  than  foolish,  which  inter- 
dicts the  same  inspector  from  serving  two  consecutive  terms. 

The  mode  of  appointing  the  wardens  or  governors  of  the  prisons 
varies  a  good  deal  in  different  states.  In  some,  the  appointment  is 
made  by  the  governor,  or  by  the  governor  and  council;  in  some  by 
the  legislature;  in  others  by  the  inspectors;  and  in  one,  as  we  have 
seen — Wisconsin — by  vote  of  the  people  in  a  general  election. 
Everywhere  the  power  that  appoints  the  warden  may  remove  him 
at  pleasure.  The  chaplain,  physician  and  clerk  are  usually,  not 
always,  appointed  by  the  same  jsower  as  the  warden.  The  officers 
constituting  the  police  of  the  prisons — called,  in  some,  keepers, 
and  in  others,  overseers — are,  in  the  great  majority  of  ca^jes,  ap- 
pointed either  absolutely  by  the  wardens,  or,  which  is  the  more 
common  practice,  by  the  inspectors  on  the  nomination  of  the  war- 
den; but  this  comes  substantially  to  the  same  thing.  In  New 
York  the  Avarden  has  neither  the  appointment  nor  nomination  of 
his  subordinates,  nor  any  power  of  removal;  all  is  in  the  hands  of 
the  inspectors.    Yet  he  is  held  responsible  by  the  inspectors  and 


UNITED  STAT*tS  AND  CANADA. 


79 


at  the  bar  of  public  opinion  for  the  government  and  discipline  of 
the  prison,  and  is  thus  much  in  tin  same  condition  as  the  Israelites 
under  their  Egyptian  taskmasters,  wher  ''hey  were  required  to 
make  brick  without  straw. 

The  immediate  administration  of  the  prisons  is  everywhere  en- 
trusted to  the  superintendent,  by  whatever  name  called;  never- 
theless, the  inspectors  have,  for  the  most  part,  the  general  direc- 
tion of  it.  It  belongs  to  them,  in  general,  to  make  the  regula- 
tions,— subject  in  some  states  to  the  approval  of  the  Governor, — 
which  the  superintendent  is  charged  with  executing;  and  also  to 
Avatch  over  this  execution.  The  thoroughness  with  which  this 
duty  of  supervision  is  discharged  varies  exceedingly.  Thus  in 
Kentucky,  Missouri,  Maine,  and  some  other  states,  the  superin- 
tendence of  the  inspectors,  from  all  we  could  learn,  seems  to  be 
superficial  and  ineffective;  while,  in  the  Eastern  penitentiary,  at 
Philadelphia,  it  is,  manifestly,  vigilant,  active,  thorough  and  per- 
vading. 

The  most  important  position  in  the  state  prisons,  beyond  a 
doubt,  is  that  of  superintendent;  for,  though  his  written  Huthority 
is  not  very  great,  though  his  prerogative,  as  defined  by  laAV,  is 
less  exttojsive  than  that  of  the  inspectors,  yet  he  is  the  centre  and 
soul  of  the  administration.  It  will  be  obvious,  on  the  least  reflec- 
tion, that  the  gentlemen  who  fill  these  places  should  be  men  of 
probity,  humanity,  experience,  a  deep  sense  of  duty,  a  strong 
religious  feeling,  large  knowledge  of  men,  and  the  highest  execu- 
tive and  administrative  ability.  The  frequent  changes  of  these 
high  officers,  as  well  as  those  occupymg  subordinate  positions,  re- 
sulting from  the  working  of  a  principle  to  be  noticed  further  on 
in  this  report,  operates  adversely  in  two  ways; — first,  by  repelling 
men  of  the  right  stamp  from  seeking  the  places,  and  secondly,  by 
preventing  all  from  acquiring  that  broad  and  varied  experience, 
without  which  no  man,  however  eminent  in  other  respects,  can 
achieve  the  least  success  in  the  government  of  a  prison.  Yet  wo 
are  glad  to  record  the  fact  that  our  American  State  penitentiaries 
can  boast  of  some  noble  officers  at  the  head  of  their  affairs,  men 
who  would  grace  the  position  in  any  country;  among  whom  we 
cannot  forbear  to  name  Mr.  Haynes,  of  Massachesetts,  Mr.  Rice, 
of  Maine,  Mr.  Halloway,  of  Pennsylvania,  Mr.  Prentice,  of  Ohio, 
and  Mr.  Cordier,  of  Wisconsin,  now  in  office;  and  of  those  who 
have  been  "relieved,"  Messrs.  Hubbell  and  Seymour,  of  New 
York,  Mr.  Miller,  of  Missouri,  and  Mr.  Scaton,  of  Michigan. 


80 


PRISONS  AND  REFORMATORIES  OF  THE 


We  have  already  stated  that  in  none  of  our  American  states  is 
there  any  central  authority,  charged  with  the  general  supervision 
and  control  of  the  whole  prison  system  of  the  state,  but  that  in 
Canada  such  central  power  exists,  in  a  Board  of  Inspectors  of 
Prisons  and  other  Public  Institutions.  That  board  was  created 
by  act  of  the  Legislature  in  1859.  The  act  authorizes  the  Governor 
Geneial  to  appoint  tive  inspectors;  to  hold  office  during  pleasure, 
that  is,  in  efloct,  during  good  behavior.  There  is  no  displacement 
from  office  but  for  cause. 

We  do  not,  of  course,  propose  to  give  an  analysis  of  the  entire 
act,  but  only  of  such  parts  of  it  as  relate  to  prisons. 

First,  as  it  respects  the  provincial  penitentiary — state  prison — 
at  Kingston. 

The  inspectors  are  charged  with  the  government  of  the  peni- 
tentiary, and  are  held  responsible  for  its  discipline  and  manage- 
ment, but  have  no  executive  power,  except  that  of  giving  instruc- 
tions to  the  warden  and  other  executive  officers.  They  are  em- 
powered (among  other  things)  to  have  access  to  the  prison  and  its 
books  at  all  times;  to  investigate  the  conduct  of  the  officers,  and 
to  compel  their  attendance  and  that  of  any  other  persons  as  wit- 
nesses; and  to  suspend  any  officers  appointed  by  the  Governor  for 
misconduct,  till  the  case  is  investigated  by  the  Government. 

It  is  the  duty  of  the  inspectors  to  visit  the  penitentiary  jointly 
at  least  four  times  a  year,  and  to  devote  not  less  than  seven  con- 
secutive days  at  each  visit  to  a  rigid  inspection  of  the  whole 
affiiirs,  management  and  condition  of  the  institution,  and  of  one 
of  them  to  visit  the  prison  at  least  once  every  month,  and  devote 
not  fewer  than  two  days  to  an  inspection  of  its  affairs;  to  frame  a 
code  of  rules  and  regulations  for  the  government  of  the  peniten- 
tiary; to  inspect  every  cell  each  month,  and  to  examine  monthly 
the  cash  and  credit  transactions;  to  determine  the  branches  of 
labor  to  be  introduced  into  the  prison  and  the  manner  of  prose- 
cuting the  same — whether  bj'^  contract  or  otherwise;  to  prescribe 
the  food  and  clothing  of  the  prisoners;  to  determine  the  syrftem 
of  secular  education;  to  fix  the  number  of  overseers,  keepers  and 
guards;  to  require  an  annual  report  from  the  warden,  physician, 
chaplains  and  schoolmaster,  and  to  make  an  annual  report  to  the 
Governor  General,  giving  a  complete  statement  of  the  affairs  of 
the  institution;  and  to  erect  not  exceeding  fifty  cells,  with  a  work- 
shop attached  to  each,  adapted  to  carry  out  the  separate  or  soli- 
tary system  of  discipline  (a  duty,  by  the  way,  not  yet  discharged). 


UNITED  STATES  AND  GANADAS. 


81 


Secondly,  as  regards  common  jails,  houses  of  correction,  and 
other  prisons. 

In  this  department  of  their  work,  it  is  the  duty  of  the  inspec- 
tors to  visit  and  inspect  every  jail,  &c.,  at  least  twice  each  year; 
to  report  to  the  Governor  General  the  improvements  required  in 
jails,  and  to  determine,  subject  to  the  approval  of  the  Governor, 
the  plan  of  all  jails  to  be  erected,  and  of  all  material  alterations 
and  improvements  to  be  made  in  jails  already  built.  In  deciding 
on  the  plan  of  a  jail,  the  inspectoi'S  are  enjoined  to  take  into  con- 
sideration the  following  circumstances,  viz:  the  nature  and  extent 
of  the  ground  on  which  the  said  jail  has  been  or  is  to  be  built; 
its  situation  in  relation  to  any  streets  and  buildings,  and  to  any 
river  or  other  water;  the  comparative  elevation  of  the  site  and 
capability  of  being  drained;  the  materials  of  which  it  is  or  is  to 
be  composed;  the  necessity  of  providing  for  ventilation  and 
guarding  against  cold  and  damps;  the  proper  classification  of 
prisoners  as  to  sex,  age  and  cause  of  commitment;  the  best  means 
of  securing  their  safe  custody,  without  resorting  to  severe  treat- 
ment; the  due  accommodation  of  the  keeper,  so  that  he  may  have 
ready  access  to  the  prisoners,  and  may  conveniently  oversee  them; 
the  prevention  of  intercourse  with  the  outside  world;  the  preven- 
tion of  nuisances;  the  reformation  and  employment  of  prisoners; 
provision  for  outdoor  exercise;  and  the  enclosure  of  the  premises 
with  a  secure  w^all.  It  is  further  made  the  duty  of  the  inspectors 
to  frame  a  system  of  rules  for  the  government  of  the  jails,  in- 
cluding the  maintenance  of  prisoners  as  to  diet,  clothing,  bedding, 
&c.;  their  employment;  medical  attendance;  religions  instruction; 
the  conduct  of  the  prisoners  and  the  restraint  and  punishment  to 
which  they  may  be  subjected;  and  the  treatment  and  custody  of 
the  prisoners  generally,  and  the  whole  internal  economy  and  man- 
agement of  the  jails. 

The  counties  in  LTpper  and  districts  in  Lower  Canada  are  re- 
quired to  provide  the  necessary  funds  for  erecting  new  jails  and 
securing  requisite  improvements  in  the  old.  It  is  left  optional 
with  these  authorities  to  provide  the  funds  or  not,  however  im- 
portant the  improvements  recommended  by  the  inspectors,  and 
however  urgent  these  officers  may  be  to  have  them  made.  The 
jail  at  Kingston,  the  seat  of  the  provincial  penitentiary,  is  an  ex- 
ample in  point.  It  is  a  wretched  affair,  and  wholly  unfit  for  the 
purposes  of  such  an  institution;  but,  despite  the  earnest  and  long- 
[Assem.  No.  35.]  6 


muvm 


83 


PRIBONS  AND  BEFORMATOBIES  OF  THE 


continued  efforts  of  the  inspectors,  the  authorities  of  the  three 
counties  to  Avhich  that  jail  belongs  in  common  have,  as  yet,  taken 
no  steps  to  replace  it  with  a  better.  Just  here,  it  seems  to  us,  is 
the  weak  point  in  the  law  creating  the  present  board  of  inspectors. 
As  it  regards  improvements  in  old  jails  and  the  erection  of  new 
ones,  they  can  recommend,  and  when  plans  are  submitted  to  them, 
can  pass  upon  the  same,  forbidding  the  use  of  such  as  fail  to  meet 
their  approval.  But  here  their  power  ends.  However  impera- 
tivf  ly  a  new  jail  may  be  needed  in  any  county  or  district,  they 
have  no  authority  to  compel  its  erection,  but  the  whole  matter 
rests  with  the  local  authorities.  This,  we  are  free  to  say,  strikes 
us  as  a  serious  defect  in  the  law.  Gentlemen  competent  to  the 
duties  of  a  position  so  important  and  responsible  should  be 
clothed  with  some  discretion  in  the  discharge  of  those  duties;  and 
when,  after  due  argument  and  a  reasonable  delay  in  awaiting  the 
effect  of  their  exhortations,  the  county  or  district  authorities 
utterly  refused  to  listen  to  the  voice  of  reason,  to  the  manifest 
prejudice  of  the  highest  interests  of  the  nation,  then  the  inspec- 
tors should  have  power,  under  proper  guards  and  limitations,  to 
proceed  with  the  erection  of  the  jail,  despite  the  indifference  or 
opposition  of  the  authorities,  at  the  expense  of  the  jurisdiction, 
within  whose  bounds  it  should  be  erected.* 

But,  however  imperfectly  this  board  may  be  constituted  in 
respect  to  its  want  of  adequate  powers  for  good,  however 
cramped  and  restricted  its  sphere  of  authoritative  action,  let  us 
test  its  utility  by  inquiring  what  it  has  accomplished  during  the 
six  years  of  its  existence,  in  the  face  of  prejudice,  indifference, 
and  even  active  hostility,  for  the  improvement  of  the  prisons  of 
Canada.  As  the  result  of  their  first  inspection  of  the  jails,  they 
found  defects  pervading  them  throughout;  in  their  construction, 
superintendence,  discipline,  sanitary  arrangements,  and  all  other 
dep.trtments  of  administration.  They  describe  them  all  as  in  a 
frightful  condition;  as,  in  effect,  nurseries  of  vice;  as  breeding 
and  educating  criminals  for  the  work  of  preying  on  society;  and 
as  robbing  the  community  of  the  wealth  that  might  have  been 
earned  by  their  inmates,  could  they  but  have  been  saved  from 
becoming  felons  through  the  baneful  education  thus  received. 
There  was  not  a  solitary  jail  in  Canada,  adapted  to  the  proper 
, —_ — — - — _ — 

•  Mr.  E.  A.  Meredith,  LL.D.,  President  of  the  Board,  in  a  lecture  before  a  literary 
society,  says :  "  The  powers  of  the  inspectors  reach  but  a  short  way,  while  the  evils  to  be 
remedied  were  of  long  growth,  widely  spread  and  deeply  rooted." 


UNITED  STATES  AND  CANADA. 


83 


ends,  or  answering  the  just  purposes  of  such  un  institution. 
Since  the  creation  of  the  board,  thirteen  new  jails  liave  been 
built,  and  ten  old  ones  altered  in  Upper  Canada,  on  plans  ap- 
proved by  them;  plans  for  rebuilding  or  altering  six  others  have 
been  submitted  to  them,  and  these  improvements  will  soon  be 
completed;  while  there  are  but  six  jails  in  the  whole  province,  in 
reference  to  which  nothing  has  been  done.  When  the  board 
came  into  existence,  there  was  no  uniform  dietary  in  the  jails,  and 
the  daily  cost  of  the  rations  of  each  pvisoner  exceeded  twenty-five 
cents;  now  there  arc  very  few  jails  in  which  the  dietary  pre- 
scribed by  the  rules  is  not  observed,  and  the  daily  cost  of  rations 
is  about  nine  cents  per  man;  thus  the  annual  cost  of  the  food  of 
each  prisoner  has  been  reduced  from  $89.25  to  $32.85  cents  a 
year — an  immense  saving.  Again,  at  the  organization  of  the 
board,  there  Avas  no  uniformity  in  the  registers  of  the  jails,  and 
many  kept  none  at  all;  now  full  registers,  covering  every  mate- 
rial point,  are  kept  in  all;  and  criminal  statistics,  of  great  value, 
are  annually  collected  and  published  to  the  world.  Moreover, 
the  board  has,  from  the  first,  recommended  two  most  important 
measures  of  criminal  reform,  and,  from  jear  to  year,  has  repeated 
and,  with  cogent  reasoning,  urged  its  recommendations  upon  the 
Legislature,  viz.:  the  adoption  of  the  principle  of  separate  im- 
prisonment in  all  common  jails,  and  the  establishment  of  central 
or  district  prisons,  intermediate  between  the  provincial  peniten- 
tiary and  the  jail,  in  Avhich  reformatory  discipline  could  be 
introduced;  and  there  is  reawn  to  think  that  these  great  reforms 
may  soon  become  a  part  of  the  penal  system  of  Canada.  These 
are  exceedingly  gratifying  results,  not  a  tithe  of  which  could  have 
been  secured,  except  through  the  existence  and  agency  of  this 
board;  and  others,  no  less  important  would,  doubtless,  ere  this, 
have  been  effected,  had  the  board  been  clothed  with  powers 
adequate  to  the  work  entrusted  to  it.  The  wonder  is,  that  in  so 
short  a  time  and  Avitli  a  discretion  so  restrained,  so  much  should 
have  been  done. 

In  any  comprehensive  reorganization  ot  the  prison  system  of  our 
state,  we  consider  the  creation  of  a  central  authority,  having  gene- 
ral powers  of  direction  and  control,  absolutely  essential.  At 
present  that  fundamental  principle  of  all  good  government — a 
responsible  but  supreme  authority — is  wanting  in  relation  to  our 
prisons ;  hundreds  of  persons,  and  if  we  include  county  boards  of 
supervisors,  perhaps  thousands,  having  a  direct  power  in  thw 


84 


PRISONS  AND  REFORMATORIES  OF  THE 


management.  This  single  fact  affords  an  ample  explanation  of  the 
slow  progress  which  has  been  made  in  general  improvement.  The 
select  committee  of  1850  on  prison  discipline,  in  the  British  Par- 
liament, took  no  wiser  action  than  that  of  adopting  a  resolution, 
with  a  view  to  securing  uniformity  in  prison  constiucti(m  and 
management,  to  the  effect  that  "it  is  desirable  that  the  Legisla- 
ture should  entrust  increased  powers  to  some  central  authority, 
and  that  such  increased  powers  would  be  best  exercised  by  a 
board,"  etc.  Without  some  such  authority',  ready  at  all  times  for 
deliberation  and  action,  there  can  be  no  consistent  and  homoge- 
neous system  of  administration,  no  well  directed  experiments,  no 
careful  deductions,  no  estabh'shment  of  broad  principles  of  prison 
discipline,  nor  any  skillfully  devised  plans  for  carrying  such  prin- 
ciples into  effect.  But  if  the  construction  and  management  of  all 
our  prisons  were  entrusted  to  a  central  board  or  bureau,  improve- 
ments of  every  kind  could  readily  be  introduced,  and  that,  too,  in 
the  safest  manner,  by  first  trying  the  plan  proposed  on  a  small 
scale  and  under  the  best  circumstanced  for  insuring  trustworthy 
results,  and  then,  if  successful,  gradually,  under  the  guidance  of 
experience,  extending  the  sphere  of  its  operations.  It  is  material 
to  remark,  though  the  observation  would  naturally  occur  to  re- 
flecting minds,  that  a  supreme  authority,  like  that  here  proposed, 
is  quite  compatible  Avith  local  boards  acting  under  its  uirectiou. 
But,  with  or  without  local  boards,  a  general  board,  properly  con- 
stituted and  empowered,  could  find  little  diflSculty  in  the  efficient 
management  and  superintendence  of  the  whole  system.  We 
ardently  hope  yet  to  see  all  the  departments  of  our  preventive, 
reformatory  and  punitive  institutions — the  nursery  of  the  infant, 
the  school  of  the  juvenile,  the  jail  of  the  adult,  the  local  peniten- 
tiary, and  the  state  prison — moulded  into  one  harmonious  and 
effective  system ;  its  parts  mutually  answering  to  and  sustaining 
each  other ;  the  whole  animated  by  the  same  spirit,  aiming  at  the 
same  objects  and  subject  to  the  same  central  control,  yet  without 
the  loss  of  the  advantages  of  voluntary  aid  and  effort  where  they 
are  attainable. 

Among  the  interrogatories  framed  by  the  undersigned  in  rela- 
tion to  state  prisons,  was  one  as  to  the  opinion  held  on  the 
probable  utility  of  a  supreme  power,  such  as  that  proposed  above, 
to  be  entrusted  with  the  direction  of  the  Avhole  prison  system.  In 
their  responses,  the  intelligent  and  experienced  wardens  of  the 
state  prisons  of  Massachusetts,  Maine,  Ohio  and  Wisconsin,  and 


UNITED  8TATE8  AND  CANADA. 


85 


the  no  less  accomplished  If  warden  of  that  of  Missouri — Messrs. 
Haynes,  Rice,  Prentice,  Corclier  and  Miller — expressed  themselves 
us  decidedly  favorable  to  the  creation  of  such  central  boards  in 
our  states,  as  likely  to  be  productive  of  many  important  reforms 
in  prison  discipline.  Mr.  Miller  added  the  suggestion  that  the 
members  of  the  proposed  boards  be  paid  liberal  salaries,  tiist,  to 
the  end  that  men  of  intelligence,  experience  and  enlarged  views 
may  be  secured  to  serve  on  them  ;  and  secondly,  because  persons 
who  labor  in  such  fields  from  motives  of  honor  alone  are  never 
found  very  efScient,  and  rarely  do  more  than  take  the  opinions  of 
prison  officers  and  make  up  reports  from  them,  without  giving 
the  subjects  of  their  reports  much  thought  or  investigation  them- 
selves. 

In  this  connection,  as  strongly  corroborative  of  our  views  as  to 
the  utility  and  importance  of  a  central  administration,  we  venture 
to  make  a  brief  reference  to  the  history  of  penal  administration 
in  France.  Prior  to  1856,  the  prisons  of  that  country  were  sub- 
ject, in  great  measure,  to  the  control  of  the  departments  in  which 
they  Avcrc  situated.  At  that  time  they  were  for  the  most 
part  in  a  shameful  condition,  being  destitute  of  furniture,  clothing, 
bedding,  and  indeed  of  all  materials  necessary  to  the  service. 
Grave  abuses  existed  in  the  supplies  and  the  regulation  of  the 
expenditures.  In  most  of  them,  a  promiscuous  mingling  of  the 
prisoners  confounded  all  classes  and  both  sexes.  On  the  first  of 
January,  1856,  the  state  took  charge  of  these  prisons;  that  is  to 
say,  they  became  subject  to  that  central  authority  and  control,  for 
which  we  are  pleading  in  our  own  state.  The  result  has  been,  the  cor- 
rection of  the  monstrous  abuses  named  above,  the  introduction  of 
excellent  and  cheap  supplies  into  the  prisons,  a  great  diminution 
of  expenses,  and  an  almost  incredible  augmentation  of  the  pro- 
duct of  prison  labor.  Under  the  old  regime  of  separate  juris- 
dictions, tile  expense  of  the  service  was  one  franc  and  thirteen 
centimes  a  day  for  each  person,  which,  under  a  central  adminis- 
tration, has  been  reduced  to  eighty  centimes — about  sixteen  cents 
of  our  money — or  nearly  one-third.  The  annual  product  of  prison 
labor,  which,  prior  to  the  change,  had  been  in  all  the  departments 
(except  Paris),  14,466  francs,  had  increased  even  in  1862,  the 
date  to  which  our  information  extends,  to  900,000  francs,  an 
increase  of  more  than  sixty  hundred  per  cent.* 


*  Jearnal  vf  Prison  Diaoipline  and  Philanthropy  for  Januarf ,  1866. 


86 


PRISONS  AND  REFURMATOBIES  OF  THE 


SECTION  THIRD. 
Prison  Premises  and  Buildings. 

The  grounds  belonging  to  the  state  prisons  visited  by  us. 
including  those  of  New  York  (not  visited  lust  yojir,  but  often 
before),  vary  exceedingly  in  extent,  ranging  from  half  an  acre, 
as  in  New  Hunipshire,  to  two  hundred  acres,  as  in  the  case  of 
Clinton  prison  in  our  own  state. 

In  treating  the  subjects  mentioned  in  the  title  of  this  section, 
we  will  tirst  give  brietiy  the  details  belonging  to  the  several  pri- 
sons, and  then  ofler  a  few  general  remarks. 

Connecticut. — This  prison  is  in  Wethersfield,  and  is  beautifully 
situated  on  the  south  side  of  an  extensive  bay.  The  premises 
embrace  fifteen  acres,  a  portion  of  which  is  inclosed  by  a  wall 
seventeen  feet  high  and  three  feet  thick.  The  drainage  is  reported 
by  the  warden  as  ♦'  not  extensive,"  by  which  we  presume  is  meant, 
that  it  is  not  perfect,  or  not  very  good.  There  are  l)oth  vegetable 
and  flower  gardens,  and  a  handsome  lawn  in  front,  of  four  acres, 
ornamented  with  shade  trees.  The  entire  premises  are  clean  and 
neat,  and  are  altogether  the  most  attractive,  in  point  of  rural 
beauties,  to  be  found  in  connection  with  any  state  prison  in  the 
United  States,  as  far  as  seen  by  us. 

The  buildings  are  plain,  substantial  structures,  economically 
built,  without  needless  ornament,  and  also  suited,  in  their  whole 
appearance  and  air,  to  the  object  to  which  they  arc  devoted. 
There  is  a  dwelling  house  for  the  chaplain  standing  by  itself. 
and  a  residence  for  the  warden  adjoining  the  prison  proper,  with 
oflSce,  guard  room,  dormitories  for  officers,  «fec.,  &c.  The  cell 
building  is  of  stone,  two  hundred  and  eighty  feet  long  by  forty- 
seven  feet  wide,  with  two  blocks  of  cells,  built  of  brick,  four 
stories  high.  The  number  of  cells  is  two  hundred  and  fifty: 
their  dimensions  seven  feet  long,  three  and  a  quarter  wide  and 
about  seven  feet  high.  There  are  eight  workshops,  seventy  feet 
by  forty,  well  arranged  and  commodious.  The  chapel  is  forty- 
eight  feet  by  thirty  feet,  and  the  hospital  eighteen  feet  square. 
The  prison  has  a  department  for  female  convicts. 

Delaware. — There  is  no  state  prison  here,  but  the  county  jail  at 
New  Castle  is  used  instead. 


light  an 


UNITED  8TATE8  AMD  CANADA. 


87 


IlUnota. — The  premises  hero  cuntuin  fifteen  acres,  and  form  an 
exact  square,  the  encircling  wall  being  eight  hundred  feet  long  on 
each  side, and  six  feet  thick  atthc))aso,  three  feet  at  the  top,  and 
twenty-five  feet  high,  cop^d  with  drvased  stone  five  feet  wide  and 
eight  inches  thick,  forming  a  bruu!  walk  for  the  sentinels.  At 
the  corners  of  this  wall  are  four  turrets,  twcuiy  feet  in  diameter 
and  sixty  feet  high,  for  the  use  of  the  sentinels. 

The  stylo  of  architecture  adopted  for  the  main  buildings  and 
walls  is  a  castellated  gothic;  but  for  the  buildings  within  the 
inclosure,  convenience,  security  and  durability  have  been  studied 
more  than  architectural  beauty. 

The  two  wings,  east  and  west,  are  each  two  hundred  and  fifty 
feet  long  by  fifty-four  wide,  and  their  walls  forty  feet  high; 
one  of  them  containing  four  tiers  of  cells,  the  other  five,  there 
being  one  hundred  cells  in  each  tier,  or  nine  hundred  in  all. 
Each  cell  is  four  feet  wide,  seven  feet  long  and  seven  feet  high  in 
the  clear;  and  their  floors,  ceilings  and  partitions  are  each  formed 
of  one  well  dressed  stone,  eight  inches  thick.  The  doors  are 
made  of  cylindrical  bar  iron,  and  therefore  admit  nearly  as  much 
light  and  air  when  closed  as  when  open.  Each  door  has  its  own 
lock,  besides  which  there  is  a  bar  extending  the  entire  length  of 
the  wing,  which  is  operated  by  a  lever  at  one  end.  This  bolts 
every  door  in  one  tier  at  the  same  moment,  and  the  two  sets  of 
locks  constitute  a  double  security. 

The  warden's  dwelling,  which  is  between  the  two  wings,  and  to 
which  they  are  attached,  is  ninety-eight  feet  by  eighty-seven,  and 
five  stories  high,  including  the  basement.  It  will  readily  be  be- 
lieved that  the  entire  facade,  over  six  hundred  feet  in  length,  of 
massive  hewn  stone,  presents  a  magnificent  and  imposing  appear- 
ance, and  looks  more  like  the  palace  of  some  mighty  prince  than 
the  home  of  felons,  who  are  expiating  their  crimes  within  its 
walls. 

We  have  not  space  to  pursue  the  description,  but  the  entire 
appointments  of  the  place,  when  the  whole  is  completed — chapel, 
hospital,  mess-room,  kitchen,  &c.,  will  be  in  keeping  with  what 
has  been  already  described. 

Within  the  great  enclosure,  and  having  an  encircling  wall  of  its 
own — a  wall  within  a  wall — is  the  female  department  of  the  prison, 
having  100  cells,  with  the  necessary  workshops,  &c.,  &c. 

The  work  shops  of  the  men  are  of  stone,  one  story  high  of  fif- 
teen feet,  forty  feet  wide,  and  1,295  in  length,  with  cross  walls  at 


88 


PRISONS  AND  RBF0RMAT0RIB8  OF  THI 


intervals,  extending  through  the  roof  with  a  battlement  or  fire- 
wall.  Ventilation  is  secured  by  windows  on  both  sides  every  four* 
teen  feet. 

No  building  within  the  onolosure  is  nearer  than  forty  feet  to  the 
outside  walls. 

In  his  report  of  1860,  the  warden  says:  "  If  the  plan  of  the 
prison  uud  character  of  the  work  are  maintained  till  it  is  com* 
pletod,  the  people  of  this  state  may  rely  upon  having  a  prison, 
which,  for  durability  and  convenience  (he  might  have  added,  also, 
expensivcncss),  will  not  bo  equalled  in  the  United  States,  and  pro- 
bably not  excelled  in  the  world." 

,  N^ort/tem  Indiana. — Wo  are  not  able  to  state  the  extent  of  the 
premises  here.  The  prison  is  in  process  of  construction,  and  at 
present  is  in  un  inchoate  state.  There  is  no  cell-house,  and  the 
only  place  for  the  eontinenient  of  prisonerH  is  u  single  room,  sixty- 
six  by  forty  feet.  In  this  all  the  prisoners,  who  are  well,  sleep 
and  are  confined  at  all  times,  when  not  engaged  at  labor  in  the 
shops.  Four  guards  are  employed  to  keep  watch  over  them  at 
night,  one  of  whom  is  in  the  room  with  the  convicts.  There  is  no 
female  department  here. 

Sout/iern  Indiana. — Here,  too,  we  are  unable  to  give  the  extent 
of  the  grounds  belonging  to  the  institution.  The  buildings  are 
old  and  inconvenient,  and  the  whole  appearance  of  the  place 
struck  us  as  slovenly  and  repulsive.  The  warden,  Col.  Merri- 
weather,  hud  been  in  office  less  than  two  months  at  the  time  of  our 
visit.  He  impressed  us  favorably,  but  failed  to  reply  to  our  inter- 
rogatories, though  he  promised  to  do  so,  and  was  several  times 
written  to  on  the  subject.     The  prison  has  a  female  department. 

Kentucky. — This  prison  is  ot  Frankfort,  the  capital  of  the  state. 
The  premises  contain  about  six  acres,  without  garden  or  ornamen- 
tal grounds.  They  are  enclosed  by  a  stone  wall,  four  feet  thick 
and  twenty-two  feet  high.  The  drainage  is  slated  to  be  good. 
Everything  here  wore  a  confused  and  slovenly  appearance.  This 
was,  in  part,  no  doubt,  owing  to  the  erection  of  new  buildings 
now  going  forward,  an  extensive  conflagration  having  occurred  in 
the  prison  some  months  ago. 

The  prison  buildings  are:  1.  The  cell  house.  This  is  two  hun- 
dred and  ten  feet  long  by  forty  feet  wide,  containing  two  hundred 
and  fifty  cells,  in  three  tiers,  arched.  Their  dimensions  are  seven 
feet  long,  three  and  a  half  feet  wide,  and  seven  feet  high  to  the 
centre  of  the  arch.    The  odor  of  the  cells  was  most  offensive  even 


lijt 


VNITID  BTATI8  AMD  CANADA. 


89 


in  the  day  time,  showing  an  oxcoodingly  imporfoct  vontilation. 
2.  A  hemp  factory,  three  hundred  and  seventy  feet  long,  seventy 
feet  wide,  and  three  stories  high.  3.  Another  1urg(  factory,  three 
hundred  and  fifty  feet  l^ng,  fifty  feet  wide,  and  two  stories  high, 
containing  a  chair  Hho|),  .i  cooper  vhop,  a  shoe  shop,  u  taiioin  nhop, 
a  carpenter  and  wagon  sliop,  a  hiacksmith's  shop,  an  iiigino  room 
and  largo  store  room.  4.  A  building,  containin<;  i  hospital,  Hfty 
feet  by  forty  fuct,  with  iron  bedsteads,  a  guard  rouin,  twenty  feet 
by  forty,  and  a  female  department,  which  had,  at  the  time  of  our 
visit,  but  two  inmates.  5.  A  kitchen,  wash  house,  and  smoke 
house.  6.  A  building  (the  new  one  in  process  of  erection,  and 
nearly  completed,  when  wo  were  there),  containing,  in  the  first 
story,  a  dining  hall,  eighty  feet  by  fifty  feet,  well  lighted  and  ven- 
tilated, with  good  seats,  and  every  way  commodious  and  comfor- 
table; and  a  chapel  over  the  same,  of  the  like  dimensions,  with  a 
pleasant  pulpit,  settees  for  the  convicts;  and,  altogether,  present- 
ing an  air  of  neatness  and  comfort. 

Maine. — The  prison  is  in  Thomiiston,  eighty  miles  north  east 
from  Portland,  situated  on  an  eminence,  and  a  few  rods  from  navi- 
gable water.  The  grounds  contain  about  four  and  a  half  acres, 
but  even  this  small  space  is  consideral>ly  abridged  by  an  old  lime 
stone  quarry  embraced  in  them,  formerly  worked  by  the  convicts, 
but  long  since  abandoned  as  unprofitable.  This  old  quarry  gives 
to  the  grounds  a  rough,  unsightly  appearance,  and,  what  is  per- 
haps worse,  diminishes  them  to  a  compass  less  than  is  required 
for  the  proper  purposes  of  the  prison.  The  premises  are  enclosed 
by  a  stone  wall,  four  feet  thick  and  fifteen  high,  with  a  picket 
fence  on  the  top.     There  is  a  garden  and  a  few  shade  trees. 

The  residence  of  the  warden  is  outside  of  the  prison  walls.  It 
is  a  commodious  brick  dwelling,  with  necessary  out  buildings. 

Within  the  walls  are  the  cell  house,  work  ^hops,  Ac,  &c.  The 
cell  house  is  a  stone  structure,  one  hundred  and  fifteen  feet  in 
length  and  fifty  in  breadth,  with  which  are  connected  the  guard 
room  and  hospital.  There  are  one  hundred  and  eight  cells,  seven 
feet  long,  four  feet  wide  and  seven  feet  high.  There  is  a  large 
carriage  factory  (the  manufacture  of  carriages  being  the  principal 
business  carried  on  here);  a  blacksmith's  shop,  where  the  iron 
work  for  the  carriages  is  done;  and  a  shoe  shop.  Under  this  latter, 
on  the  first  floor,  is  the  chapel,  thirt)»eight  feet  by  thirty-three 
feet;  a  neat  and  commodious  apartment,  with  pulpit  and  settees, 


90 


PRISONS   AND   REFORMATORIES   OF   THE 


very  tliffercnt  from  the  cramped  mid  comfortless  room,  in  the  attic 
of  the  carriage  shop,  wliich  it  rephiccs. 

Massachusetts. — This  prison  is  in  Charlestown,  two  and  a  half 
miles  from  the  centre  of  Boston.  The  site  on  which  it  stands  is  a 
point  of  land,  washed  on  two  sides  by  the  sea,  and  affording,  there- 
fore, the  purest  and  most  salubrious  air;  no  position  could  be  more 
favorable  than  this  in  a  hygienic  point  of  view. 

There  are  some  seven  acres,  five  of  Avhich  are  enclosed  by  a 
quadrangular  wall,  of  solid  granite  masonry,  25  feet  high,  5  feet 
thick  at  the  base,  and  3  feet  at  the  top,  surmounted  by  a  strong 
iron  railing,  with  watch  towers  placed  at  intervals  on  the  summit. 
In  the  centre  of  the  prison  yard  there  is  an  oblong  plat  of  grass, 
with  shrubbery,  flowers,  and  a  fountain. 

The  prison  buildings  are  of  massive  Quincy  granite.  There  is 
an  octagonal  central  sti'ucturo,  with  three  Avings,  or  cell-houses, 
radiating  from  it  at  right  angles  to  each  other,  and  opposite  one 
of  these  a  range  of  brick  buildings,  consisting  of  the  various  prison 
offices,  and  two  handsome  dwelling-houses,  the  residences  of  tlio 
warden  and  deputy  warden. 

The  octagonal  is  73  feet  in  diameter,  and  of  the  same  height. 
In  the  bas'^ment  is  the  cookery;  and  over  it  is  a  room,  separated 
from  the  three  wing«  by  iron  bars,  which  commands  a  view  of  all 
the  corridors,  and  every  cell  in  the  prison.  In  the  centre  of  this 
stands  a  large  glass  case  filled  with  gold  fish;  on  one  side  is  a 
book  case  containing  the  prison  library;  and  on  the  others,  a  num- 
ber of  lounges,  chairs,  and  writing  desks  for  the  use  of  officers 
and  visitors.  This  spacious  apartment  id  lighted  by  four 
immense  arched  double  windows,  extending  from  the  floor  to  tiie 
ceiling.  Over  this  room,  and  of  the  s«  ae  dimensions  with  it,  is 
the  chapel;  a  well-lighted  and  airy  apartment,  having  a  neat  and 
appropriate  desk,  provided  with  comfortable  seats,  and  altogether 
cheerful  and  attractive  in  its  appearance.  It  will  seat  600. 
Above  the  chapel  is  another  room  of  the  same  size,  intended  for 
a  hospital,  but  never,  as  yet,  used  for  that  pm-pose,  because  sick 
prisoners  would  be  unable  to  climb  so  high,  and  no  apparatus  for 
raising  them  has  been  introduced.  The  present  hospital  is  at  the 
end  of  one  of  the  wings,  though  not  a  part  of  it.  It  is  spacious 
and  commodious,  having  fourteen  cells  of  large  size,  with  dispen- 
sary, bath-room,  and  kitchen  attached. 

In  each  of  the  three  wings  used  as  cell-rooms,  the  external 
walls  have,  we  think,  ten  large  arched  windows,  five  en  each  side, 


UNITED   STATES  AND   CANADA. 


91 


extending  from  the  eaves  almost  to  the  floor.  Each  window  is 
9  feet  wide,  by  26  feet  in  height,  and  made  secure  against 
attempts  at  escape  by  strong,  upright,  cylindrical  iron  bars.  The 
doors  of  the  cells  are  made  of  round  iron  bars.  By  this  arrange- 
ment of  the  windows  and  doors,  air  and  light  are  admitted 
almost  as  freely  as  if  the  outer  walls  were  taken  away,  and  the 
doors  of  the  cells  were  set  wide  open.  The  number  of  cells  in 
the  three  wings  is  554.  They  are  8^  feet  long,  4|  feet  wide,  and 
7|  feet  high.  Their  furniture  is  an  iron  bedstead,  with  curled 
palm  leaf  mattrass,  a  table  with  drawer  in  it,  a  stool,  a  shelf,  a 
knife,  fork  and  spoon,  a  pepper  box,  a  salt  cellar,  a  vinegar  bottle, 
a  water  kid,  and  a  night  bucket,  together  with  a  Bible  and  a  slate. 
There  is  no  common  mess-room,  the  convicts  taking  all  their  meals 
in  their  cells. 

There  is  a  spacious  guard  room  and  a  sitting  room  for  the  use 
of  the  officers. 

There  are  two  long  brick  structures,  two  stories  high,  forming 
two  sides  of  a  hollow  square.  These  are  divided  into  ten  work- 
shops, each  about  one  hundred  feet  long  by  forty  feet  wide — all 
well  lighted  and  ventilated.  Ice-water,  is  kept  in  them  in  summer 
for  the  use  of  the  prisoners.  There  is,  besides,  a  foundry,  one 
hundred  and  twenty-five  feet  by  seventy  feet. 

As  the  prison  system  of  Massachusetts  is  the  most  extended  and 
complete  to  be  found  in  any  of  the  states  of  our  Union,  so  the 
undersigned  have  no  hesitation  in  pronouncing  the  state  penitenti- 
ary at  Charlestown,  though  certainly  far  behind  our  ideal,  the 
banner  prison  of  the  country.  In  its  construction,  its  ventilation, 
Its  staff  of  officers,  its  discipline  (there  are  others  where  the  dis- 
cipline is  more  rigid,  more  military),  and  all  its  appointments, 
except  the  department  of  secular  instruction,  it  seems  to  us  fairly 
entitled  to  this  preeminence. 

It  has  no  female  department. 

Maryland. — This  prison  is  in  Baltimore,  about  three-quarters  of 
a  mile  northeast  from  the  centre  of  the  city.  It  stands  on  elevated 
ground,  and  the  situation,  except  that  it  is  in  a  city,  where  no 
prison  other  than  those  for  the  detention  of  persons  arrested  and 
held  for  trial  ought  ever  to  be  placed,  is  pleasant  and  healthy. 

The  premises  contain  some  four  acres,  which  are  inclosed  with 
a  stone  wall,  twenty  feet  high. 

Of  the  prison  buildings  we  are  unable  to  give  any  description. 
We  neglected  to  make  the  usual  memoranda,  as  Mr.  Thompson, 


i  \  % 


92 


PRISONS  AND  REFORMATORIES  OF   THE 


the  warden,  promised  to  respond  to  our  interrogatories,  but, 
though  several  times  addressed  by  letter  on  the  subject,  failed  to 
fulfill  his  promise.  Our  visit  to  tliis  prison  was  a  hurried  one, 
and  there  was  little  about  it  which  impressed  us  very  favorably. 
Reforms  seemed  needed  in  all  departments. 

A  female  department,  well  filled  at  the  time  of  our  visit,  belongs 
to  this  penitentiary. 

Michigan. — The  state  prison  is  at  Jackson,  a  little  out  of  the 
town.  The  grounds  embrace  some  six  acres,  and  are  encircled  by 
a  stone  wall,  five  feet  thick  at  bottom  and  three  feet  a(  top,  with 
a  height  of  eighteen  feet.  There  is  a  garden  in  front  of  the  prison, 
not  inclosed  by  the  wall,  which,  with  proper  care  and  at  small 
expRMse  to  the  state,  might  be  made  highly  ornamental.  The 
drainage  is  good.  The  sewer  is  of  brick  and  circular  in  form, 
with  a  diameter  of  four  feet.  There  is  a  fall  of  twenty  feet  to 
the  river  in  a  distance  of  six  hundred  feet. 

The  prison  buildings  include  main  prison,  female  prison,  and 
solitary  prison. 

The  main  prison  consists  of  a  centre  building,  sixty  feet  square, 
and  four  stories  high,  with  an  east  and  west  wing,  each  two  hun- 
dred and  twenty  feet  long,  containing  the  cells.  Each  wing  has 
three  hundred  and  twenty-eight  cells,  arranged  in  four  tiers. 
The  cells  are  three  and  a  half  feet  wide,  six  and  a  half  feet  long, 
and  seven  feet  high.  They  are  each  furni^>hed  with  a  cot  bed- 
stead, covered  with  canvas,  a  strawbed  in  winter,  two  sheets,  a 
pillow  case,  quilts,  a  pillow'of  hay,  straw,  shavings,  or  other  like 
material,  a  stool,  a  night  bucket,  &c.,  &c. 

The  chapel  is  sixty  feet  by  sixty-five,  twenty-two  to  twenty- 
eight  feet  high,  with  seats  for  visitors  in  the  rear  of  the  convicts. 
.  The  hospital  is  in  the  third  story  of  main  building,  sixty  feet 
square,  with  ceiling  twenty  feet  high,  and  well  lighted  and  ven- 
tilated. It  is  not  regarded  as  secure,  and,  therefore,  convicts  must 
be  quite  sick  or  they  are  not  allowed  to  remain  in  it. 

The  mess  room  is  sixty  by  sixty-five  feet,  and  is  furnished  with 
long  tables  about  a  foot  wide,  a  stool  for  each  convict,  and  knife, 
fork,  spoon,  tin  plate,  and  tin  basin. 

The  guard  room  is  in  the  main  building,  and  there  are  four 
guard  houses  on  the  top  of  the  wall. 

The  whole  aspect  of  the  prison  struck  us  unfavoral)ly.  Every- 
thing wore  a  slovenly  air;  the  discipline  appeared  feel)le;  and, 
generally,  the  administration  seemed  lacking  in  vigor  and  efficiency. 


UNITED  STATES  AND  CANADA. 


d3 


Missoun. — The  prison  is  at  Jefferson  City,  the  capital  of  the 
state,  and  is  situated  on  a  bluff  of  the  Missouri  river,  command- 
ing a  fine  view  of  the  adjacent  country.  The  prison  premises  em- 
bi'ace  five  acres,  enclosed  by  a  stone  wall,  twenty  feet  high,  and 
of  a  thickness  of  four  feet  at  th^-  foundation  and  two  at  the  top. 
The  drainage  is  good,  the  descent  to  the  river  being  rapid. 

The  prison  buildings  consist  of:  1.  A  large  stone  cell-house. 
Neither  the  dimensions  of  this  building  nor  the  number  of  cella 
arc  stated  bj-  ex- Warden  Miller  in  the  paper  communicated  to  us. 
The  size  of  the  cells  is  seven  and  a  half  feet  by  four  feet,  and  it  is 
claimed  that  they  are  well  ventilated;  which,  if  true,  is  a  novelty 
in  American  prisons.  Each  \»  furnished  with  an  iron  bedstead 
and  a  straw  bed,  with  blankets  according  to  the  season.  2.  A 
hospital  building,  also  of  stone.  3.  Two  large  brick  blocks  for 
workshops,  in  one  of  which  is  a  dining  hall,  which  is  likewise  used 
for  a  chapel,  being  large  enough  to  seat  comfortably  all  the  pri- 
soners.    There  is  a  female  department  in  the  prison. 

Most  of  the  buildings  here  are  quite  indifferent,  and  not  well 
adapted  to  prison  purposes.  The  premises  are  much  too  confined 
for  the  size  of  the  prison;  and  the  tout-ensemble  presented  a  slo- 
veiilj'^,  uninv'ting,  we  might  almost  saj',  repulsive  appearance. 
How  much  of  this  might  have  been  owing  to  the  absence  of  the 
Avardcn,  Mr.  Horace  Swift,  we  cannot  say.  As  it  was  in  contem- 
plation to  erect  an  additional  cell  building,  Mr.  S.  had  gone  to 
visit  prisons  in  the  eastern  states,  and  gather  ideas  on  prison  con- 
struction that  might  be  made  available  in  the  proposed  enlarge- 
ment of  the  Missouri  penitentiary.  It  is  to  be  hoped  that  his 
mission  proved  successful,  and  that  its  fruits  will  appear  in  sundry 
reforms,  where  reform  seems  so  much  needed. 

In  the  absence  of  Mr.  Swift,  we  sought  an  interview  with  the 
late  warden,  P.  T.  Miller,  Esq.,  with  whose  reports  during  his 
administration  Ave  had  been  familiar.  He  spent  an  entire  evening 
Avith  us  at  our  hotel.  Mr.  M.  had  been  at  the  head  of  the  prison 
for  nearly  four  years  prior  to  March,  1865,  Avhen  he  was  removed 
from  the  position  by  Governor  Fletcher;  for  Avhat  cause  Ave  did 
not  inquire,  and  do  not  know.  HoAvever  able  and  worthy  his  suc- 
cessor may  be — and  we  trust  that  he  is  proving  himself  among  the 
abkst  and  the  Avorthiest — Ave  could  not  but  regret  that,  for  any 
cause  other  than  malfeasance  in  office,  it  should  have  been  deemed 
necessary  to  displace  a  gentleman  of  so  much  intelligence,  such 
large  experience,  and  views  so  enlightened  and  liberal  on  the 


94 


PRISONS  AND   REFORMATORIES   OF    THE 


I  ml 

m 


whole  subject  of  prison  discipline  and  prison  management,  as  we 
found  Mr.  Miller  to  be. 

iVew  Hampshire. — The  prison  is  in  Concord,  the  capital  of  the 
State,  on  one  of  the  principal  streets,  half  a  mile  north  of  the  State 
House. 

The  prison  grounds  embrace  only  half  an  acre,  which  is  en- 
closed by  a  stone  wall,  eighteen  feet  high  and  four  feet  thick  at 
the  base. 

The  cell  building  is  a  substantial  edifice,  built  of  granite,  and  is 
two  hundred  and  forty  feet  by  fifty  feet.  It  contains  one  hundred 
and  twenty  cells,  whose  dimensions  are  eight  feet  in  length,  four 
feet  in  width,  and  seven  feet  in  hcighth. 

The  chapel  is  a  small  but  neat  apartment,  with  capacity  for 
seating  one  hundred  and  fift}'. 

The  hospital  has  four  rooms,  each  ten  feet  by  twenty,  thus  giv- 
ing altogether,  for  hospital  purposes,  a  space  of  forty  feet  by 
twenty. 

There  is  a  building,  two  stories  high,  and  one  hundred  and 
twenty  feet  long  by  fifty  feet  wide,  which  is  divided  into  two 
workshops  by  a  hall  and  stairway. 

ii  ^ew  Jersey. — The  prison  is  at  Trenton,  the  capital  of  the  state. 
It  was  among  the  last  visited  by  us,  and  our  stay  there  was  very 
brief.  As  Mr.  Walker,  the  warden,  failed  to  fulfill  his  promise  to 
reply  to  our  queries,  Ave  are  not  prepared  to  offer  any  satisfactory 
description  of  the  grounds  or  buildings. 

Ohio. — The  prison  of  this  state  is  at  Columbus,  the  capital. 
The  grounds  consist  of  fifteen  acres,  thirteen  of  which  are  enclosed 
by  a  stone  wall,  having  an  average  height  of  twenty-one  feet  and 
an  average  thickness  of  twenty-two  inches.  The  drainage  is  good, 
by  sewers  to  the  adjacent  river.  That  part  of  the  grounds  not 
included  within  the  walls  is  devoted  to  the  purposes  of  a  garden. 
The  yard  in  front  of  the  main  building  is  ornamented  with  shade 
trees,  shrubbery  and  flowers.  The  yard  within  the  walls — a  kind 
of  court  formed  by  prison  buildings  which  surround  it  on  all 
sides — is  two  hundred  and  seventy-five  feet  by  two  hundred  and 
sixty-eight  feet.  The  "engine"  and  "bell"  houses  are  in  the 
centre  of  this  yard.  The  yard  is  sodded,  and  walks  paved  with 
brick  intersect  it  in  every  direction.  A  few  sycamore  trees  arc 
growing  here  and  there  in  it,  and  there  i*  one  piece  of  plain  stone 
statuary,  the  subject  of  which  we  do  not  now  recall. 

The  prison  buildings  consist  of  1.   The  warden's  residence,  in- 


high,  an 


UNITED  STATES  AND  CANADA. 


95 


oludiiig  guard  room  and  boarding  house  for  officers.  It  is  five 
stories  high,  including  basement  and  attic,  and  is  built  of  dressed 
lime  stone.  2.  Two  prison  halls,  or  cell  houses.  3.  A  female 
prison  and  laundry.  4.  A  three  story  building,  containing  dining 
ball,  hospital  and  chapel.  5.  A  prison  for  the  insane.  6.  A  state 
shop.  7.  State  kitchen.  8.  An  engine  house.  9.  A  bell  house. 
10.  Nine  workshop^},  where  contract  labor  is  performed. 

The  prison  proper  consists  of  two  cell  houses,  designated  as  the 
cast  and  west  halls.  These  halls  are  built  of  stone,  Avith  outer 
walls  three  inches  thick.  West  hall  is  one  hundred  and  ninety 
foot  in  length  by  fifty  feet  in  breadth,  and  contains  one  block  of 
cells.  East  hall  is  three  hundred  and  thirty-three  feet  by  fifty 
feet,  and  has  two  blocks  of  cells.  The  cell  blocks  are  of  dressed 
stone,  one  hundred  and  sixty-five  feet  by  twenty  feet,  five  ranges 
high,  and  each  range  containing  thirty-five  cells.  The  corridors 
surrounding  them  are  eleven  feet  in  width.  There  are  ten  hundred 
and  fifty  cells.  Their  dimensions  are  seven  feet  long,  three  and  a 
half  feet  wide,  and  seven  feet  high.  They  are  furnished  with  bed, 
night  tub,  water  bucket,  and  gas  burner. 

The  chapel  is  L  shaped.  Its  length,  exclusive  of  the  L,  is  one 
hundred  and  forty  feet;  length  of  L  ninety  feet.  One  half  of  this 
part  is  partitioned  off"  for  the  use  of  the  school  and  the  library, 
which  gives  for  the  dimensions  of  the  chapel  a  length  of  one 
hundred  and  eighty-five  feet  and  a  breadth  of  fifty  feet.  It  is  on 
the  third  floor  of  a  building,  running  at  right  angles  with  and 
midway  of  the  east  hall,  from  which  the  stairs  leading  to  it  ascend. 

The  hospital  is  on  the  second  floor  of  the  same  building,  directly 
under  the  chapel,  with  which  its  dimensions  and  general  contour 
correspond.  It  is  a  large,  cheerful,  well  aired  apartment,  with  all 
needful  appliances  for  its  special  purposes.  There  is  an  entrance 
by  steps,  outside,  from  the  prison  yard;  also  by  a  door  communj- 
cating  with  east  hall  by  the  chapel  stairs. 

The  dining  hall  is  also  in  the  same  building,  underneath  the 
hospital.  Its  whole  length,  including  the  L,  is  two  hundred  and 
thirty  feet,  and  its  breadth  fifty  feet.  Tliere  are  three  doors  by 
which  it  is  entered  from  the  yard,  and  one  from  east  hall.  There 
are  fifty-two  tables,  each  fifteen  inches  wide  and  thirty-six  feet 
long,  the  prisoners  sitting,  as  in  all  other  prisons  where  they  eat 
in  a  common  mess  room,  face  to  back.  Every  prisoner  is  furnished 
Avith  a  stool,  knife,  fork,  spoon,  plate,  and  tin  cup.  The  prison 
kitchen  and  bake  house,  connecting  with  the  mess  room,  is  one 
hundred  feet  by  thirty  feet. 


96 


PRISONS  AND  REFORMATORIES  OF  THE 


. 


if' 

i 
ill 


It 


The  guard  room  is  thirty-four  feet  by  eighteen,  and  is  on  the 
first  floor  of  front  house.  It  separates  the  two  cell  houses,  and 
commands  a  view  of  both,  communicating  with  them  and  with  the 
prison  yard. 

There  arc  ten  workshops,  including  that  wliere  work  is  done 
for  the  state;  or,  to  speak  more  accurately,  there  are  ten  build- 
ings, each  containing  several  shops  or  apartments,  where  the  same 
branch  of  business  is  carried  on.  AH  the  buildings  are  of  brick, 
— most  of  them  two  stories  high,  but  a  few  one  story.  They  vary 
a  good  deal  in  size,  the  largest  being  three  hundred  and  ftmrteen 
feet  by  forty-five,  and  the  smallest  (state  shop)  sixty  feet  by  forty. 

PennNiflvania. — There  are  tAVO  state  prisons  in  this  state,  called 
the  eastern  and  western  penitentiaries. 

1.  Eastern  Penitentiary. — This  is  situated  in  the  city  of  Phila- 
delphia, on  an  elevated  piece  of  ground,  called  Cherry  Hill,  from 
which  it  is  sometimes  named  Cherry  liill  prison. 

The  prison  premises  contain  ten  acres,  enclosed  by  a  massive 
wall  of  hewn  stone,  six  feet  thick  at  the  base,  three  feet  at  the 
top,  and  thirty  feet  high.  The  building  for  the  warden's  and 
matron's  residence  and  for  prison  offices  forms  a  part  of  the  south 
wall,  on  each  side  of  the  centre.  The  magnificence  of  this  part 
of  the  prison  may  be  inferred  from  the  fact  that  the  enclosing 
wall  cost  about  $200,000.  The  architecture  of  the  prison  is  a 
Norman  Gothic,  and  the  whole  structure,  but  particularly  the 
noble  gateway,  presents  an  imposing  appearance. 

In  the  exact  centre  of  the  yard  is  erected  the  observatory,  an 
octagonal  ))uilding,  from  the  middle  point  of  which  the  spectator 
has  a  perfect  view  of  all  the  corridors,  and  also  of  the  broad, 
graveled  walk,  which  extends  from  the  entrance  to  the  said  central 
building,  and  each  side  of  which  is  laid  out  in  parterres,  and 
planted  with  flowers  and  shrul)bery.  The  cell  houses  are  built  in 
seven  blocks,  radiating  from  this  conmion  centre.  The  spaces 
between  the  r.adiating  blocks  of  cells  are  cultivated  as  a  kitchen 
garden,  and  yield  a  large  amount  of  vegetables,  which  are  all  fur- 
nished to  the  prisoners  as  a  part  of  their  rations.  More  than 
iwenty  gas  lamps,  distributed  through  the  grounds,  light  up  the 
premises  at  night,  and  increase  the  security  of  the  prison.  Four 
of  the  wings  are  two  stories  high,  and  three  one  story.  They  vary  in 
length  from  three  hundred  and  thirty  feet  to  one  hundred  and 
eighty  feet.  There  are  five  hundred  and  thirty-six  cells  in  all. 
Most  of  them  are  eight  by  fifteen  feet,  and  twelve  feet  high,  though 


'i 


UNITED  STATES  AMD  CANADA. 


97 


a  few,  because  of  the  kind  of  work  carried  on  in  them  (chair 
making),  are  double  tliat  size.  In  prisons  conducted  on  the  con- 
jrrcgato  plan,  the  cell  blocks  extend  along  the  middle  part  of  the 
building,  with  corridors  all  around,  and  the  cells  are  placed  back 
to  back.  Here,  on  the  contrary,  the  cells  in  each  of  the  seven 
wings  arc  arranged  in  two  rows,  on  opposite  sides  of  seven  central 
passages,  extending  from  the  observatory  to  the  wall  at  the  end  of 
the  block.  All  the  cells  in  the  three  blocks  of  one  story,  and  all 
in  the  lower  stories  of  the  others,  have  exercising  yards  attached 
to  the  rear,  of  the  same  dimensions  with  themselves.  Many  of 
these  yards  have  borders  planted  by  their  occupants  with  flowers, 
or  with  lettuce,  tomatoes,  and  other  vegetables,  or  covered  with 
strawberry  vinos.  Many  also  have  grape  vines,  peach  trees,  plum 
trees,  or  other  kinds  of  fruit.  The  products  of  the  yards  belong 
to  the  occupants  of  the  cells  to  which  they  are  attached,  and  they 
are  at  liberty  eithei  to  eat  or  to  sell  them.  One  prisoner 
informed  us  that  he  had  sometimes  gathered  three  bushels  of 
grapes  from  his  vines;  another  has  a  peach  tree  which  yields  sev- 
eral bushels  of  peaches  annually,  of  the  finest  quality  and  com- 
manding the  highest  price  in  market.  Each  cell  has  double  doors 
opening  into  the  central  passage,  one  on  each  surface  of  the  wall — 
a  grated  iron  door  on  the  inside,  fastened  with  three  bolts,  and  a 
close  wooden  door  outside.  The  latter  are  set  about  one-third  of 
the  way  open  on  Sunday  to  enable  the  prisoners  to  hear  the  preach- 
ing, and  the  same  during  the  hot  days  of  summer,  to  secure  a  freer 
circulation  of  air.  They  are  never  opened  wide  enough  for  pris- 
oners in  opposite  cells  to  see  each  other.  The  cells  that  have 
exercising  yards  have  the  same  arrangements  of  double  doors  for 
the  egress  of  the  occupants  to  their  yards.  They  are  lighted  by 
small  skylights  in  the  roof,  six  inches  Avide  by  thirty  inches  long. 
The  light  is  rather  dim,  and,  in  cloudy  days,  we  should  think, 
hardly  sufficient  for  purposes  of  labor.  Oil  lamps  are  furnished 
to  each  prisoner  at  night  till  nine  o'clock. 

The  cells  are  furnished  as  follows:  Each  has  a  pine  bedstead, 
with  bed  of  straw  and  pillow  of  the  same.  The  bed  clotlies  are 
two  shee^':,  a  pillow  case,  a  comfortable,  and  one  or  two  blankets, 
as  may  be  required.  Each  is  also  provided  with  a  Bible,  a  praj'cr 
book  (if  desired,  which  is  usually  the  cjise),  a  slate  and  pencil,  a 
stool,  a  table  (which  lets  down  when  not  in  use),  a  closet  contain- 
ing two  shelves,  a  looking  glass,  a  comb,  a  hydrant,  a  water 
bucket,  a  knife,  fork,  spoon,  plate,  tin  cup,  oil  lamp,  piece  of 

[Assam.  No.  35.]  7 


08 


PRISONS  AND  REFORMATORIES  OF  TEE 


soap,  bottlo  of  vinegar,  and  molasses  can,  liokling  two  quarts  (the 
allowance  for  a  month),  together  with  such  mechanical  implements 
as  may  he  required  for  the  Avork  to  be  perfornjcd. 

Each  cell  has  also  a  water  closet.  Each  block  of  cells  has  an 
eight-inch  water  pipe  passing  along  the  whole  length  on  either 
side  in  each  story  (where  there  are  two),  with  valves  at  the  ends. 
The  valve  at  the  upper  end  is  connected  with  a  resei'voir  of  water, 
and  that  at  the  lower  end  Avith  a  sewer.  Each  cell  has  a  branch 
from  this  main  pipe.  In  the  morning,  after  breakfast,  the  lower 
valve  is  throAvn  open,  and  the  contents  of  the  pipe  are  discharged 
into  the  sewer.  Then  a  stream  of  water  is  let  on  to  wash  out  the 
pipe,  after  which  the  lower  valve  is  closed  and  the  pipe  tilled  Avith 
fresh  Avater,  Avhich,  rising  some  inches  in  the  bowl  of  the  Avater 
closet,  remains  till  next  morning.  Once  a  fortnight,  or  thereabout, 
each  prisoner  is  furnished  Avith  a  tablespoonful  of  chloride  of  lime, 
which  he  dissolves  in  a  bucket  of  Avatcr,  and  pours  the  solution 
into  his  privy  pipe. 

Women,  as  well  as  men,  are  imprisoned  here. 

2.  Western  Penitentiari/. — This  is  commonly  spoken  of  as  situ- 
ated at  Pittsburgh,  but  it  is  in  reality  in  the  city  of  Allegheny, 
Avhich  is  separated  from  Pittsburgh  by  the  Allegheny  river,  and  is 
in  fact  but  an  appendage  of  that  city,  though  forming  a  diiferent 
corporation. 

The  prison  premises  here  are  in  the  form  of  an  octagon,  four 
hundred  feet  in  diameter,  and  contain  about  seven  acres.  They 
are  enclosed  by  a  stone  Avail  tAventy-iive  feet  high,  Avith  an  average 
thickness  of  tAvo  feet.  The  drainage  is  good,'— by  seAvers,  Avhich 
cany  off  all  the  tilth  to  the  river.  There  is  a  vegetable  garden 
^vithin  the  enclosure,  and  a  tine  laAvn  Avith  shade  trees  in  front. 

The  buildings  of  the  Avestern  penitentiary  are,  the  residence  of 
the  Avarden,  in  front;  three  blocks  of  cells,  tAvo  stories  high,  radi- 
ating from  a  semi-circular  observatory,  after  the  model  of  the 
Philadelphia  prison  j  one  of  Avhich  is  live  hundred  feet  long,  and 
the  other  tAvo,  each  tAvo  hundred  feet ;  an  engine  and  dye  houso, 
and  a  gas  house. 

The  hospital  is  quite  unAvorthy  of  a  prison  of  the  first  class, 
consisting  of  tAvo  badly  arranged  rooms,  immediately  over  the 
kitchen. 

There  arc  three  hundred  cells,  seven  by  sixteen  feet,  each  pro- 
A'ided  AV'ith  a  table,  hanmiock,  straAv  bed,  hydrant,  gas  burner,  and 
necessary  table  furniture  and  mechanical  implements  for  their 


UNITED  STATES  AND   CANADA. 


99 


handicrafts.     There  are  no  exercising  yards  attached  to  the  cells 
here. 

At  the  external  angles  of  the  front  building  are  two  large  circu- 
lar towers,  which,  together  with  the  warden's  residence,  present  a 
handsome  elevation,  being  finished  in  the  castellated  stylo  of  gothic 
architecture.  A  circular  tower  is  also  placed  at  the  angle  of  the 
boundary  wall  on  each  side,  for  the  purpose  of  overlooking  the 
prison  yards.     There  is  a  female  department  in  the  prison. 

The  original  plan  of  this  prison  Avas  very  different  from  that  of 
its  present  construction.     The  cells,  according  to  the  former  design, 
were  built  in  a  double  range  on  the  outer  edge  of  the  octagon, 
being  placed  back  to  back,  as  in  prisons  on  the  Auburn  plan,  but 
in  the  form  of  a  circle,  the  diameter  of  which  was  three  hundred 
and  twenty  feet ;  part  of  them  facing  the  boundary  wall,  and  the 
others  fronting  the  large  internal  area,  which  was  subdivided  into 
nine  yards  or  courts.     These  cells  were  intended  for  the  purposes 
of  constant  solitary  confinement,  of  absolute  isolation  and  non-in- 
tercourse.    No  labor  of  any  kind  was  provided;  indeed,  the  cells 
were  neither  large  enough  nor  light  enough  for  any  such  purpose. 
The  prison  was  opened  for  the  reception  of  convicts  in  1827.     It 
was  soon  found,  on  experiment,  that  solitude,  although  intended 
to  be  perfect  and  absolute,  was  far  from  being  so  in  fact.     From 
the  bad  arrangement  and  construction  of  the  building,  the  prison- 
ers could  easily  communicate  from  cell  to  cell,  and  to  such  an  ex- 
tent could  these  communications  be  carried  as  to  become  a  source 
of  mutual  contamination,  just  as  in  prisons  where  promiscuous  as- 
sociation is  allowed.     Their  health  suff*ered  to  such  a  degree  that 
it  became  necessary  to  let  them  out  in  successive  groups  into  the 
open  court  yards,  which  was,  of  course,  utterly  destructive  of  the 
solitary  principle.     Again,  the  difficulties  in  the  way  of  effective 
supervision  were  found  to  be  insuperable.     After  an  experiment 
of  three  years,  the  inspectors  recommended  a  complete  change  in 
the  plan  of  the  building ;  and  two  years  subsequently,  in  1832, 
an  act  was  passed  by  the  Legislature,  authorizing  the  demolition 
of  these  cells  and  the  construction  of  others  similar  to  those  in  the 
eastern  penitentiary,  in  which  the  same  system  of  discipline  might 
be  established.     But  we  doubt  whether  the  usages  which  came  in- 
to vogue  in  the  old  prison  w^ere  not  propagated,  to  a  greater  or 
less  extent,  in  the  ne\y,  and  whether  the  separate  system  was  ever 
enforced  at  Pittsburgh,  with  any  gieat  degree  of  rigor.     Certain 
it  is  that  sush  is  not  tlie  case* at- the  Jjreseht  tifir'e.' ' 


lUfl 


100 


PRISONS  AND  REFORMATORIES   OF  THE 


Rhode  Island. — Tho  gronnd4  of  this  prison,  which  is  in  the  out- 
skirts of  Providence,  cover  an  area  no  more  tlian  three  quarters  of 
an  acre,  and  are  encircled  by  a  stone  wall  twenty-five  feet  high, 
with  an  average  thickness  of  two  feet.  The  county  jail  is  within 
the  same  enclosure,  and  under  tho  same  administration.  Tho 
drainage  is  good.  There  is  no  garden  of  any  kind  ;  only  a  few 
shade  trees  in  front. 

Vetnnont. — The  prison  is  situated  on  an  eminence  west  of  the 
village  of  Windsor,  and  about  half  a  mile  from  the  Connecticut 
river.  The  premises  embrace  only  an  acre  and  a  quarter.  The 
drainage  is  good — into  the  adjoining  valley.  There  is  no  garden  ; 
only  a  small  bed  or  border  of  flowers  within  tho  enclosure. 

There  are  two  cell  buildings,  one  of  stone,  the  other  of  brick. 
The  former  is  tho  original4)rison,  and  is  built  on  the  old  plan  of 
large  night  rooms,  arranged  on  opposite  sides  of  a  common  hall. 
This  is  now  used  as  a  women's  prison ;,  and  of  course  no  attempt 
is  made  to  enforce  the  silent  system  by  day  or  by  night.  An  im- 
provement greatly  needed  here  is  the  demolition  of  this  old  struc- 
ture and  the  erection  of  a  new  one,  where  the  female  prisoners  as 
well  as  the  male  can  be  scpai'ately  confined  at  night.  The  male 
prison,  of  brick,  is  built  upon  the  usual  Auburn  plan,  with  a  sep- 
arate night  cell  for  every  prisoner.  The  cells  are  of  unusual  size, 
but  none  too  large^  being  eight  feet  long,  six  feet  wide  and  seven 
feet  high. 

There  is  no  mess-room,  as  the  prisoners  take  all  their  meals  in 
the  cells. 

There  is  no  chapel,  the  religious  services  of  the  Sabbath  being 
held  in  the  corridor  of  the  male  prisoi). 

The  workshops  are  three  in  number,  all  of  brick. 

West  Virginia. — There  is  no  state  prison  in  this  state. 

Wisconsin. — This  prison  is  situated  at  Wfiupun,  and  may  be 
pronounced,  in  all  respects,  one  of  the  finest  in  the  United  States. 
The  premises  comprise  au  area  of  twenty  acres,  eight  of  which  are 
enclosed  by  a  stone  wall,,  twenty  feet  high  and  tJiree  feet  thick* 
The  front  wall  is  a  series  of  stouiC  pillars  and  ai'ches,  five  hundred 
and  seventy-five  feet  long,  filled  with  an  iron  net-work.  At  tho 
time  of  our  visit,  the  drainage  was  very  imperfect.  All  the  filth 
that  accumulated  was  emptied  into  sink-holes,  dug  for  the  purpose 
of  receivinff  it.  But  in  the  winter  of  1863-4,  the  commissioner  of 
the  prison,  Henry  CordLdr.,  Es(}.,  succeeded  iu  procuring  the  neces- 
sary legislation  for  the  ^construction  of  a  sewer,  of  ample  dimen- 


UNITED  STATES  AMD  CANADA. 


101 


sions,  with  a  fall  of  about  forty  feet,  from  the  prison  ynrd  to  Rock 
river,  by  which  the  drainage  will  bo  made  perfect.  There  is  a 
handsome  garden,  of  nearly  an  acre  in  extent,  in  front  of  the  pri- 
son buildings. 

The  prison  buildings  consist  of  a  main  building  (used  as  a  resi- 
dence for  the  commissioner,  officera'  rooms,  chapel  and  hospital), 
a  cell  room,  a  female  prison,  workshops,  wash-house,  barn  and  sta- 
bles and  wood  shed. 

The  prison  proper, — or  cell  room,  is  two  hundred  feet  long, 
fifty  feet  wide,  and  thirty-two  feet  high.  It  is  a  structure  of 
dressed  lime-stone,  with  ten  windows  on  each  side,  each  window 
being  sixteen  feet  by  five  feet.  In  the  middle  part  of  this  room 
is  a  stone  block  containing  the  cells.  A  corridor  fourteen  feet  wide 
runs  all  around  it.  The  cell  room  for  female  convicts,  surrounded 
by  a  separate  stone  wall,  fifteen  feet  high  and  two  thick,  is  seventy- 
three  feet  in  length,  thirty-four  in  width,  and  twenty  in  height. 

The  cell  room  for  men  contains  four  tiers,  with  two  hundred  and 
oij'hty  cells  in  all.  The  size  of  the  cells  is  seven  feet  long,  four 
foet  wide,  and  seven  feet  high.  That  of  the  women  contains  thirty- 
six  cells  in  two  tiers,  each  cell  being  ten  feet  long,  six  wide,  and 
eight  high.  They  are  placed  on  each  side  of  the  room,  with  a 
hall  fourteen  feet  wide  between.  Each  cell  in  the  female  prison 
has  a  window.  The  furniture  of  the  cells,  both  in  the  male  and 
female  departments,  consists  of  the  following  articles  :  a  cot,  stand, 
stool,  wash  basin,  knife,  fork,  spoon,  salt  box,  pepper  box,  vinegar 
bottle,  spittoon,  lamp  and  night  tub. 

The  chapel  is  in  the  second  story  of  the  main  building,  and  is 
sixty-seven  feet  long,  thirty-six  Avide,  and  eighteen  high.  It  is  con- 
nected l)y  a  stairway  with  the  cell  house,  and  the  only  furniture 
is  a  pulpit  and  the  necessary  seats  for  the  convicts,  with  a  few  for 
citizens  also. 

The  hospital,  likewise  in  the  main  building,  and  connected  with 
the  cell  room,  is  an  apartment  twenty-eight  feet  long,  twenty-seven 
wide,  and  eighteen  high.  It  contains  only  six  beds;  but  this  num« 
ber,  up  to  the  present  time,  has  been  found  sufiScient. 

There  is  no  dining  hall,  as  the  prisoners  take  their  meals  in  the 
cells. 

The  guard  room  is  twenty-eight  feet  by  twenty-six  feet  by 
eighteen  feet.  It  is  on  the  lower  floor  of  the  main  building,  com- 
municating with  and  overlooking  the  cell  room.  In  it  are  kept 
the  arms  of  the  prison  and  the  keys  of  the  several  departments. 


102 


PRISONS  AND  REFORMATORIES  OF  TKE 


A  row  of  buildings,  of  I'lit  wtono,  throe  hundrod  and  finy  foot 
in  U'njfth  l>y  forty  in  width,  and  two  storioH  hi^h,  conliims  tho 
workshops,  viz:  Htono,  coopor,  cabinot,  mIioo,  and  tailor  whops. 
Kach  aparlnuMit  intlioso  siiops  Ih  forty  foot  by  oightooii,  andtwolvo 
foot  lii^Ii. 

Tlio  blaol\.snuth'8  shop,  alno  of  ent  stono,  i«  eighty  foot  by  forty, 
and  HJxtoon  liigh. 

Tlio  wasji  lioiiso  (sanu;  niatorial)  ia  forty  foot,  hy  twoiity-flvoby 
bixloon. 

It  is  tliiiH  .soon  that  tljo  Wisconsin  stato  jjrison  is  of  the  most 
dnraldo  niatorials  tiirougl'out,  woll  bnilt,  woll  appointt^d,  and  sub- 
Htantial  in  all  rosptcts.  It  la  also  thu  niotit  orderly  and  thu  moat 
noatly  ki  i)t  of  all  tho  woslorn  pris<niH  visited  by  ns. 

(Jiinuda. — Tho  provincial  penitentiary — state  prison  of  Canada 
— is  sitnated  two  miles  west  of  tho  eity  of  Kingston,  on  the  north 
shore  of  Lake  Ontario,  near  its  outlet  into  tho  St.  Lawrence  river. 

As  we  obtained  no  answers  to  our  interrogatories  from  tho  otli- 
ccrs  of  this  institution — owing,  probably,  to  tho  power  of  rod 
tape — we  arc  unable  to  state,  with  precision,  tho  area  eml)raced 
within  the  prison  wall,  but  should  judge  it  to  be  some  ten  acres, 
more  or  less.  There  is  also  a  farm,  of  considerable  e.\tent,  bo- 
longing  to  the  prison,  in  tho  inuuodiate  neighborhood,  which  is 
worked,  wo  believe  to  good  advantage,  by  convict  lal)or. 

The  encircling  wall  is  a  parallelogram  in  form,  extending  from 
tho  highway  to  the  lake,  and  it  is  twenty  feet  in  height,  with  a 
uniform  thickness  of  three  foot,  from  tho  base  t<»  the  top.  Within 
this  enclosure  stand  the  numerous  buildings,  of  which  the  peni- 
tentiary is  composed;  all  of  which,  as  well  as  the  wall  itself,  arc 
of  hewn  stone,  of  a  dark  gray  color,  and  very  hard.  The  whole, 
■with  the  excei)tion  of  tho  first  editice  erected,  is  the  workmanship 
of  tho  convicts  themselves.  The  masonry  is  of  tho  very  best 
quality, — massive,  solid,  and  enduring  in  a  very  high  degree.  A 
round  tower  graces  each  angle  of  tho  exterior  wall;  and  tho  gate- 
way in  front,  which  is  of  tho  Doric  order  of  architecture,  is  a 
beautiful  and  imposing  structure. 

The  central  building  of  the  prison  is  a  rotunda,  of  ample  di- 
mensions, surmounted  by  a  handsome  dome,  from  which  radiate 
four  wings,  at  right  angles  to  each  other.  One  of  those  wings 
contains  the  residence  of  the  \>arden,  the  various  otHces  of  tho 
prison,  and  the  famale  ward;  the  other  three  contain  the  cells  of 
the  male  convicts,  eight  hundred  and  forty  iu  uumbcr.     In  each 


ligont  a 


i! 


UNITED  STATES  AND  CANADA. 


103 


wImj?  Ihoro  arc  two  mngcM  of  iu'IIm,  with  fivo  tliTs,  llici't!  ln'ing 
twt^iity-ci^lit  <'(>1Ih  ill  ciioh  tiur,  or  two  liiiiuhvil  ami  ci^lity  in  all. 
Till!  <'oni(lors  arr  lu'twccn  llio  raii^cM  ofctlls,  liiMtcad  of  ciKirt'linj^ 
(lii'in,  tiH  In  iiHiial  in  pri.*«>n«i  of  the  conirrc^ato  onlcr.  'i'hc  door.i 
of  llu^  (clli  arc;  tlniN  tnado  to  faco  (>n<'li  otlnT,  and  tlicru  is  a  win* 
(low  in  each  looking  out  into  tho  prison  yard,  in  our  jndgnicnt  a 
had  arrangcniont.  It  would  ho  a  natund  inf(a*('n(H>  from  tin;  ahovo 
tliat  tim  prisoners  can  see  (>ach  other  fVom  the  <rrated  doors  of  their 
eells.  This,  however,  in  not  the  cmhi-;  there  is  an  ohstrueticm  pre- 
ventinif  it.  A  tlouMe  wall  rises  in  the  centre  of  tlm  corridor, 
wit!i  a  passajr*!  between,  just  wide  enough  to  admit  a  man.  In 
tills  wall,  on  I'ither  side  of  the  narr<»w  passage  and  directly  oppo- 
site the  <Ioor  of  each  cell,  is  a  peep  hole,  fi'om  which  a  person 
iiKiy  have  a  full  view  of  tin;  interior  of  tin*  <;ell,  without  heing 
himself  exposed  to  the  observation  of  tho  prisoner.  This  struck 
us  as  an  arrangement  calculated  to  eontril)ute  essentially  to  the 
maintenance  of  the  disci[)line  and  good  order  of  the  i)rison.  Tho 
cells  hero  are  the  smallest  we  met  with  anywhere,  being  oidy  six 
and  two-third  f(!et  I()ng»,two  and  a  half  wide,  and  six  high.  This 
is  entirely  too  diminutive  a  si)ace  in  which  to  immure  a  man,  how- 
ever gnilty,  during  full  one  half  of  his  prison  life.  The  prisoner's 
bed  fills  up  the  entire  width  of  tho  coll,  and  ho  can  have  no  use  of 
his  little  abode,  till  ho  has  hung  his  mattress  on  tho  wall. 

The  prison  is  w(dl  provided  with  spacious  workshops:  and  the 
hospital  is,  in  every  sense,  a  model  one,  tho  only  cause  of  com- 
plaint being  that  its  acconnnodations  are  too  limited  for  the  needs 
of  the  institution,  under  tho  extensive  and  ;  lining  prevalence  of 
epidemic  fevers,  which  has  marked  the  sanitary  condition  of  tho 
prison  for  some  years  past. 

This  state  of  things  is*,  no  doubt,  due  !'•  the  exceedingly  imper- 
fect drainage  of  the  prison.  We  quite  c(>ncur  with  tho  very  intel- 
ligent and  able  physician  of  the  i)enitt  utiary,  Dr.  John  R.  Dickson, 
in  the  opinion  that  a  grave  mistake  was  made  in  erecting  tho  build- 
ings in  their  present  position,  Avhile,  on  the  penitentiary  farm, 
within  six  Inmdrod  yards  of  tho  ground  that  was  selected,  there 
is  a  beautiful  site,  fully  thirty  feet  above  the  level  of  that  now 
occupied  by  tho  prison.  By  using  that  position,  instead  of  tho 
one  actually  chosen,  the  almost  insuperable  difficulties  with  which 
the  prison  authorities  now  have  to  contend  about  sewerage  would 
have  been  obviated.  But  even  this  original  mistake  as  to  tho  best 
site  is  not  tho  worst.     Probably  the  site  selected  would  have 


31 1 1 


104 


PRISONS  AKD   REFORMATORIES  OF   THE 


I 'a 


afforded  sufficient  full  for  good  drainage,  had  not  another  most 
unaccountable  mistake  been  made.  That  site  offered  a  natural 
basis  of  solid  limestone  for  the  prison  buildings,  yet,  with  won- 
derful fatuity,  the  rock  was  excavated  to  the  depth  of  several 
feet  before  laying  the  foundations,  and  thus  was  thrown  away  the 
opportunity  of  securing  an  effective  system  of  drainage.  On  this 
subject  Ave  cite  the  foIloAving  remarks  from  Dr.  Dickson,  in  his 
last  annual  report:  "Wherever  large  numbers  of  people  are 
crowded  into  a  comparatively'  small  space,  thorough  drainage,  and 
the  consequent  construction  of  good  sewers,  is  a  matter  of  very 
great  importance.  The  prison  is  provided  with  drains  that  may 
be  styled  excellent,  as  far  as  their  size,  depth  from  surface,  and 
the  workmanlike  manner  in  which  they  were  built  are  concerned; 
but,  unfortunately,  the  depth  to  whicli  the  excavations  for  the 
basements  and  foundations  of  the  buildings  were  carried,  pre- 
vented the  architect  giving  the  bottom  of  the  sewers  such  a 
declivity  as  wouM  insure  the  discharge  of  their  contents.  The 
enormous  quantity  of  human  filth  which  was  removed  from  the 
drains  hist  year,  and  the  regular  periodical  flushing  and  cleansing 
of  them  since,  have  been  productive  of  a  great  deal  of  good; 
much,  however,  requires  yet  to  be  done." 

Neio  York. — The  undersigned,  as  has  been  previously  stated, 
were  appointed  commissioners  to  visit  prisons  beyond  the  limits 
of  our  own  state.  It  is,  therefore,  perhaps,  not  properly  within 
our  province  to  report  on  the  prisons  of  New  York;  yet,  as  this 
report  is  likely  to  find  its  way,  to  a  considerable  extent,  into  other 
states,  and  even  into  other  countries,  we  have  thought  that  it  might 
be  acceptable  to  readers  beyond  our  oavu  boundaries  to  find  in  its 
pages  some  notices  of  the  prisons  of  this  commonwealth,  as  Avell 
as  those  of  other  members  of  the  American  Union.  We  mention 
this  as  a  reason,  or  apology,  for  statements  heretofore  made,  and 
for  others  to  be  hereafter  made,  touching  the  said  prisons. 

There  are  three  state  prisons  in  New  York — Auburn,  Sing  Sing 
and  Clinton. 

Anhurn  Prison. — This  prison  is  at  Auburn,  Cayuga  county,  on 
the  Owasco  creek,  a  few  rods  from  the  depot  of  the  N.  Y.  Central 
railroad,  and  within  half  a  mile  of  the  heart  of  the  city.  Its  sit- 
uation is  elevated,  pleasant,  and  healthy. 

The  prison  premises  embrace  an  area  of  ten  acres,  inclosed  by 
a  stone  wall  in  the  form  of  a  parallelogram,  one  thousand  feet  in 
length  and  five  hundred  feet  in  breadth.     This  wall  is  graded  from 


Ii 


UNITED  STATES  AND   CANADA. 


105 


a  thickness  of  six  feet  at  the  bottom  to  four  feet  at  the  top.  Its 
upper  surface  is  level ;  but,  owing  to  the  irregularity  of  the 
ground,  its  height  varies  from  twelve  feet  to  twenty-five.  "  Un- 
quostioiiibly,  the  solid  masonry  of  this  massive  inclosure  is  well 
calculated  to  frown  down  the  hopes  and  ventures  of  Avould-be 
fugitives;  but  had  common  sense  inspired  and  superintended  the 
construction  of  the  building  inclosed,  it  is  safe  to  say  that  a  fair 
proportion  of  the  $90,000,  given  as  the  cost  of  the  wall  alone, 
might  have  been  saved  to  the  state,  and  made  more  useful  else- 
where." The  drainage  is  described  by  the  officers  as  "  sufficient 
in  amount,  but  not  perfect  in  regulation."  A  large  main  sewer 
discharges  its  contents  into  the  Owasco  creek,  into  which  smaller 
sewers  conduct  the  filth  from  different  parts  of  the  premises. 

The  buildings  consist  of  a  large  central  structure,  five  stories  in 
height,  of  grey  limestone,  used  as  a  residence  by  the  warden,  and 
for  various  prison  offices ;  two  wings — cell  houses — of  similar 
height  and  material,  extending  from  the  two  sides  ;  and  a  number 
of  brick,  stone  and  frame  buildings,  used  as  workshops  and  for 
other  purposes,  in  the  interest  of  the  prison ;  these  latter  being 
arranged  without  much  regard  to  symmetry  or  order,  diminishing, 
by  the  irregularity  of  their  location,  the  facilities  for  observation, 
and  compelling  .in  increased  force  of  keepers  for  this  purpose. 

The  number  of  cells  in  this  prison  is  nine  hundred  and  ninety; 
their  dimensions  six  and  a  half  feet  long,  four  and  a  half  wide, 
and  six  and  a  half  or  seven  feet  high.  There  are,  besides  these, 
seven  dungeons,  or  dark  cells,  used  for  the  punishment  of  refrac- 
tory prisoners. 

Sing  Sing  Pnson. — There  are,  in  fact,  two  prisons  at  Sing  Sing, 
the  male  and  the  female  ;  each  entirely  distinct  from  the  other, 
l)ut  in  near  proximity  ;  the  former  being  placed  immediately  on 
the  cast  bank  of  the  Hudson  river,  .and  the  other  on  the  hill  di- 
rectly in  the  rear. 

The  prison  grounds  contain  seventy-seven  acres,  including  the 
prison  farm,  with  a  frontage  of  fourteen  hundred  and  nineteen  feet 
on  the  river.  The  boundary  line  is  somewhat  irregular,  but  the 
form  is,  in  the  main,  quadrangular.  There  are  seven  or  eight 
acres  between  the  river  and  the  railroad,  which  arc  occupied  by  the 
buildings,  gardens,  yards  and  docks  belonging  to  the  male  prison. 
Tlie  remaining  portion  of  the  grounds  lies  along  the  slope  and  on 
the  brow  of  the  hill.  The  surface  is  broken,  with  marble  rock 
cropping  out  at  various  points.    It  was  chiefly  on  account  of  the 


Ml 


106 


PRISONS  AND  REFORMATORIES  OF  THE 


(:  i' 


inexhaustible  quarries  of  marble  found  here,  that  this  spot  was  se- 
lected as  the  site  for  this  prison.  For  many  years  these  quarries 
were  worked  by  the  convicts,  on  account  of  the  state,  to  consider- 
able profit ;  but  not  nuich  is  done  in  this  way  at  present.  About 
thirty-seven  acres  are  cultivated  as  a  prison  farm. 

The  drainage  of  the  prison  is  not  perfect,  but  by  vigilance  and 
care  it  is  made  toleral)1y  effectual. 

Tlie  buildings  here  are  very  numerous  ;  we  cannot  undertake  a 
complete  description. 

The  male  prison  is  a  vast  structure,  the  material  being  marble, 
obtained  from  the  quarries  on  the  prison  grounds.  It  is  four  hun- 
dred and  ninety-four  feet  in  length  by  forty-four  in  width,  and 
contains  twelve  hundred  cells,  the  dimensions  of  which  are  seven 
feet  long,  four  and  a  half  wide  and  seven  high.  There  is  a 
window,  one  foot  by  three,  opposite  each  cell,  an  exceedingly 
small  amount  of  window  space  for  a  structure  of  such  huge  pro- 
portions. The  corridor  encircling  the  block  of  cells  is  only  nine 
feet  wide,  which,  again,  is  far  too  narrow  for  so  large  a  building. 
The  cells  were  originally  arranged  in  fourtiers.  When  an  enlarge- 
ment was  needed,  a  fifth  story  was  added ;  and  subsequently,  a 
like  necessity  arising,  a  sixth.  How  much  farther  it  is  intended 
to  build  towards  the  empyrean,  wo  know  not ;  but  fondly  hope 
that  the  limit  has  been  reached. 

The  kitchen,  mess-room,  chapel  and  hospital  are  all  in  the  same 
building,  near  the  centre  of  the  prison  yard  ;  the  first  two  being 
on  the  ground  floor,  the  others  in  the  second  story.  They  are  all, 
with  the  exception  perhaps  of  the  kitchen,  too  small  for  the  proper 
accommodation  of  the  prisoners,  with  exccedingl}'^  low  ceilings. 

There  are  sixteen  workshops,  most  of  which  are  of  stone,  scat- 
tered about  the  prison  yard  without  the  slightest  regard  to  sym- 
metry or  convenience.  By  this  haphazard  distribution,  the  trouble 
and  cost  of  supervision  are  nuich  increased. 

There  is  no  wall  around  the  male  prison,  and  the  Hudson  River 
railroad,  a  thoroughfare  of  immense  business,  passes  directly 
through  its  grounds.  The  Avant  of  a  wall  is  imperfectly  supplied 
by  eighteen  guard  posts,  at  which  sentinels  are  stationed  at  all 
times  when  the  convicts  are  not  locked  in  their  cell".  There  is  a 
guard  house,  built  of  marble  from  the  prison  quarries,  forty  feet 
by  twenty-two,  standing  on  the  slope  of  the  hill  between  the  male 
and  female  prisons.  Here  the  grards,  who  are  oft"  duty,  remain 
during  their  intervals  of  duty,  always  ready  for  any  sudden  emer- 


prison. 


a  veiy 
Will 
the 


pr 


UNITED  ST^^TES  AND  CANADA. 


107 


gcncy  that  may  arise.  Hero  also  are  kept  all  the  arms  belonging 
iiig  to  the  institution,  consisting  of  sixty-five  carbines,  forty -seven 
muskets,  and  eleven  navy  revolvers. 

The  female  prison  is  a  handsome  marble  building,  two  stories 
high,  with  a  l)ascment  in  the  front  part,  entirely  above  ground. 
It  has  a  front  of  fifty  feet,  with  a  Doric  portico  of  imposing  pro- 
portions, and  a  depth  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  feet.  There  is  a 
stone  wall  around  these  premises.  That  part  of  the  edifice  which 
overlooks  the  Hudson  river  is  appropriated  as  a  dwelling  for  the 
matron  and  her  household.  The  remainder  is  used  for  prison 
purposes,  and  consists  of  cell  house,  hospital,  nursery,  kitchen, 
workshops,  &c.,  &c.  The  number  of  cells  here  is  one  hundred 
and  eight.  They  are  much  too  few  for  the  number  of  prisoners, 
and  many  of  them  veiy  often  have  to  receive  two  occuj)ants. 
There  is  no  dining  hall,  other  than  one  of  the  corridors  of  the 
prison,  a  great  defect;  and  no  chapel,  other  than  one  of  the  work- 
shops, a  still  greater  defect. 

The  situation  of  this  prison  is  unsurpassed.  It  is  on  the  brow 
of  the  hill,  which  rises  pretty  sharply  from  the  front  of  the 
male  prison.  The  view  from  the  portico,  mentioned  in  the  pre- 
ceding paragraph,  is  one  of  the  highest  magnificence  and  beauty. 
The  Hudson  river,  rolling  along  between  its  romiuitic  and  pic- 
turesque banks, — the  abode  of  elegance,  taste,  and  refinement, — is 
visiljle  for  nearly  fifty  miles,  and  a  hundred  sail  of  vessels  can 
sometimes  be  seen  at  the  same  moment. 

(JUnlon  Prison, — It  is  situated  sixteen  miles  west  of  Platts- 
bnrgh,  at  the  village  of  Dannemora,  in  the  county  of  Clinton, 
and  in  a  fine  mountain  region.  No  site,  affording  purer  air  or 
combining  more  of  the  conditions  of  health,  could  have  been 
selected;  but  Avhethcr  other  essential  conditions  in  the  proper  loca- 
tion of  a  prison  have  been  equally  well  met  is  open  to  ve\y  grave 
doubt. 

The  drainage  here  is  excellent,  the  nature  of  the  ground  being 
such  as  to  afford  every  facility  for  carrying  off  the  sewage  readily 
and  completely. 

There  are  two  hundred  acres  of  land  belonging  to  this  prison, 
thirty-seven  of  which  are  enclosed  by  a  stockade,  twenty  feet  high, 
constructed  of  the  trunks  of  young  trees,  which  has  proved  to  be 
a  very  fair  defence  against  escapes. 

Within  this  enclosure  are  the  numerous  buildings  necessary  for 
the  prison  purposes — residences  of  officers  (three  iu  number), 


108 


PRISONS  AND  REFORMATORIES  OF  THE 


prison  offices,  chapel  (a  neat  and  commodious  one),  hospital,  mess* 
room,  cell  building  and  many  workshops,  all  of  which  are  scat- 
tered about  the  premises  in  a  very  hap-hazard  manner,  and  with- 
'  out  any  regard  to  convenient  inspection,  or,  as  far  as  we  have  been 
able  to  judge,  convenience  of  any  other  kind. 

It  would  occupy  too  much  space  to  enter  into  a  full  description 
of  all  these  buildings,  nor  is  such  detailed  statement  at  all  neces- 
sary.   The  cell  building  is  four  hundred  and  ninety  feet  in  length, 
and  fifty  in  width,  containing  five  hundred  and  thirty-eight  cells, 
arrjinged  in  three  tiers.     The  cells  are  eight  feet  long,  four  feet 
wide,  and  seven  feet  high,  being,  as  will  be  seen,  considerably 
larger  than  those  in  either  of  the  other  male  prisons  of  the  state. 
From  the  foregoing  detail,  it  will  have  been  observed  that,  in 
respect  to  location,  the  greater  part  of  the  prisons   described 
(there  are  certainly  a  few  exceptions,  our  own  in  Clinton  county, 
for  example),  combine,  if  not  all  the  advantages  that  are  desirable, 
at  least  all  that  could  be  expected  to  meet  in  any  one  spot.     The 
great  objects  to  be  kept  in  vicM',  in  fixing  on  the  site  of  a  prison, 
are — esise  of  access,  facility  of  transportation,  the  means  of  ob- 
taining lucrative  employment  for  the  prisoners,  cheapness  of  the 
articles  required  for  their  consumption,  salubrity  of  situation,  and 
capability  of  effective  drainage.     These  paramount  advantages  arc 
in  the  main,  secured  for  the  majority  of  the  state  prisons  of  the 
Union,  visited  by  the  undersigned,  and  also  for  that  of  Canada, 
with  the  exception  of  the  one  Isist  mentioned;  and  this,  indeed,  was 
there   originally,    but   was,  with   unaccountable  thoughtlessness, 
wantonly  flung  away. 

There  appears  to  have  been,  of  late  years,  a  growing  and,  as 
we  cannot  but  regard  it,  an  unfortunate  disposition  to  lavish 
expenditure  in  the  erection  of  prisons,  both  as  it  respects  the 
materials  used  and  the  degree  of  ornamentation  given  to  them. 
Walls  of  hewn  stone — granite,  marlile,  or  the  like — with  all  the 
architectural  adornments  usual  in  the  most  costly  public  edifices, 
seem  to  be  becoming  the  order  of  the  day.  When  the  late 
Senator  Douglass  visited,  a  few  years  ago,  Augusta,  Maine,  on 
being  driven  through  the  city,  the  carriage  was  stopped  in  front 
of  a  superb  granite  building  in  the  heart  of  the  city.  Glancing 
at  the  well  proportioned  and  imposing  structure,  he  remarked, 
inquiringly:  "That,  I  presume,  is  your  state  house?"  "No," 
was  the  response,  "it  is  our  county  jail."  In  point  of  fact,  the 
prison  is  a  handsomer  and  more  cosily  structure  than  the  capitol, 


UNITED  STATES  AND  CANADA. 


109 


which  is  less  than  half  a  mile  distant,  and,  wc  think,  in  the  same 
street.  The  common  jail  at  Lowell,  Massachusetts,  which  must 
have  cost  an  immense  sum,  is  open  to  the  same  criticism.  So  is 
the  state  prison  of  Illinois,  at  Joliet;  of  Wisconsin,  at  Waupun; 
and  of  Canada,  at  Kingston;  although,  possibly,  in  the  case  of  the 
two  last  named,  there  may  be  less  objection,  from  the  fact  that 
the  labor  was  performed  mostly  by  convicts.  In  his  able  work 
on  crime,  Mr.  Frederick  Hill,  for  many  years  inspector  of  prisons 
in  Scotland,  speaking  on  this  subject,  says:  "  On  my  first  visit  to 
Cupar,  having  arrived  late  at  night,  and  taking  a  walk  early  the 
next  morning,  I  came  to  a  mansion  with  a  large  portico  in  front, 
which  I  concluded  must  be  the  residence  of  one  of  the  most 
opulent  inhabitants;  but  after  breakfast,  being  conducted  to  the 
place  where  I  Avas  to  make  my  official  visit,  I  found  that  this 
building  was  the  prison!"  The  italics  and  note  of  wonder  are 
Mr.  Hill's,  who  is  a  strenuous  opponent  of  needless  expense  and 
ornament  in  the  erection  of  prisons. 

The  chief  points  to  be  aimed  at  in  prison  construction  are  secu- 
rity, the  best  arrangements  for  carrying  on  the  several  branches  of 
labor  selected,  adaptation  in  all  their  appointments  to  the  great 
end  of  reformation,  fiicility  of  supervision,  and  a  rigid  economy. 
Costly  materials  and  high  architectural  adornments  are  not  essen- 
tial to  any  of  these  ends,  and  are  directly  subversive  of  the  last. 

We  are  quite  willing  and  even  desirous  that  prisons  of  every 
class  should  be  decent,  substantial,  and  tasteful  structures ; 
but  to  buildings  of  a  highly  ornamental  and  costly  construction 
we  are  unalterably  opposed,  and  that  for  several  reasons. 

In  the  first  place,  such  buildings  add  not  a  little  to  the  cost  of 
crime;  a  burden  already  quite  as  heavy  as  the  public  finds  it  con- 
venient to  bear.  Let  us  test  thiji  by  a  comparison  between  the 
prisons  at  Joliet  and  Wethersfield.  The  former,  when  completed, 
will  have  cost  the  state  about  a  million  of  dollars,  and  will  contain 
nine  hundred  cells.  That  will  make  the  cost  of  accommodations 
for  each  convict  $1,111.  Money,  we  believe,  readily  commands 
in  Illinois  ten  per  cent,  interest.  This  will  give  as  the  cost  of 
housing  each  prisoner  $111.10  a  year,  supposing  every  cell  to  be 
occupied;  when  this  is  not  the  case,  the  cost  will  be  increased  in 
proportion  to  the  difierenco  between  the  number  of  cells  and  the 
number  of  their  occupants.  On  the  other  hand,  in  the  Connecticut 
state  prison,  the  number  of  cells  is  250,  and  the  cost  of  the 
buildings  and  grounds  was  about  $42,000,  which  gives  $168 


no 


PRISONS  AND   REFORMATORIES   Of    THB 


as  the  investment  of  the  state  for  the  accommodation  of  each  of 
her  convicts  during  his  imprisonment.  Money  in  Connecticut  is 
worth  six  per  cent,  a  year,  which  entails  an  annual  expense  upon 
the  state  for  liouse  room  to  her  prisoners  of  $10.00  each;  a  differ- 
ence of  over  $100  yearly  in  the  cost  of  every  convict  in  these  two 
states  in  the  item  of  rent  alone.  Yet  the  prisoners  are  as  well 
accommodated  in  Connecticut  as  in  Illinois.  The  prison  is  of 
hewn  stone,  well  built,  substantial,  secure,  and  far  from  disagree- 
able to  the  eye;  while  the  grounds  are  much  more  extensive  iu 
proportion  to  the  number  of  prisoners,  and  incomparably  more 
ornamental  and  attractive  than  those  of  the  Illinois  prison  are,  or 
can  c\'er  be  made. 

Iu  the  second  place,  a  prison  with  a  stately  and  imposing  ex- 
terior, however  plain  the  internal  arrangements  may  be,  has  a 
mischievous  tendency,  as  suggested,  by  Mr.  Hill,  to  give  import- 
ance to  criminals  and  dignity  to  crime.  We  would,  therefore, 
fain  hope  that  the  taste,  or  the  ostentation,  which  has  led  to  the 
erection  of  such  prisons,  as  the  common  jails  of  Augusta  and 
Lowell,  and  the  state  penitentiary  at  Joliet,  will  soon  pass  away; 
and  that  we  shall  rid  ourselves  of  that  strange  vanity  which  leads 
us  to  make  a  parade  of  moral  deformity,  as  the  unfortunate  victim 
of  the  goitre  sometimes  invites  attention  to  her  physical  malform- 
ation by  hanging  jewels  and  gold  chains  about  her  neck.     But 

In  the  third  place,  there  is  a  still  more  weighty  objection  to 
such  costly  prisons  as  those  that  have  been,  and  others  that  might 
be  named.  The  science  of  prison  discipline  is  even  yet  in  its 
infancy.  Able  minds,  both  in  Europe  and  America,  are  turned, 
with  increased  earnestness  and  vigor,  to  the  study  of  this  deep 
problem.  New  principles,  or  new  applications  of  old  ones,  are 
continually  evolved.  One  improvement  suggests  another,  and  it 
is  not  in  the  power  of  the  most  far-seeing  sagacity  to  forecast  the 
result  of  such  ceaseless  and  energetic  efforts.  One  thing,  how- 
ever, is  certain — that  public  opinion  is  gradually  changed  by  them; 
and  society  comes  at  length  to  look  with  disfavor  upon  prisons 
which  are  incapable  of  admitting  the  improvements  suggested  by 
experience.  It  is  but  little  more  than  a  quarter  of  a  century  ago 
that  the  progress  of  penal  science,  >  he  advance  of  sound  principles 
of  prison  discipline,  compelled  the  demolition  of  nearly  all  the 
more  important  prisons  in  this  country  and  Europe;  and  it  looks 
as  if  another  revolution,  not  less  potent  and  far  more  beneficent, 
were  within  the  possibilities,  if  not  indeed  the  probabilities,  of 


UNITED   STATES  AND   CANADA. 


Ill 


the  not  distant  future.  *  Whenever  such  an  era  arrives,  the  old 
prisons  will  no  longer  meet  the  ideas,  and,  therefore,  not  the 
wants,  of  the  community,  and  will  have  to  be  abandoned.  It  is, 
therefore,  highly  important  that  these  establishments  should  be 
built  upon  the  least  expensive  plan  consistent  with  their  essential 
objects,  since  otherwise  they  become  obsticles  to  improvement; 
obstacles,  too,  difficult  to  be  overcome  in  proportion  to  the  amount 
of  money  expended  upon  their  construction.  How  much  harder, 
for  example,  would  it  be  to  persuade  Illinois  to  adopt  a  prison 
system  which  Avould  compel  the  abandonment  of  buildings,  on 
which  had  been  expended  a  million  of  dollars,  than  it  woulti  Con- 
necticut, whose  whole  outlay  upon  her  state  prison  has  been  but  a 
fraction  over  $42,000?  Let  us  not  imagine,  then,  that  our  prison 
edifices  must  be  so  constructed  as  to  endure  through  all  coming 
ages;  but  rather  hope  that  the  advance  of  sound  principles  will 
be  so  rapid  and  the  consequent  change  of  public  opinion  so  great 
as  to  require  radical  alterations  in  our  methods  of  prison  construc- 
tion, to  meet  the  demand  of  a  higher  and  juster  philosophy  of 
public  punishment.  ' 

We  would  only  add,  in  this  connection,  that,  in  all  points  of 
view,  whether  as  regards  the  productiveness  of  the  labor,  the 
facility  of  supervision,  the  health  of  the  prisoners,  the  security 
against  escapes,  or  economy  in  building,  it  is  desirable  that  the 
plan  of  a  prison  should  be  simple,  with  as  few  divisions,  passages 
and  stairways,  and  as  few  obstructions  to  the  view  in  the  yard,  as 
possible.  In  respect  to  these  matters,  improvements  of  the  great- 
est value  may  often  be  made  merely  by  the  removal  of  division 
walls  and  staircases. 

There  is  but  one  separate  state  prison  for  women,  as  far  as  we 
know,  in  the  United  States — the  one  at  Sing  Sing,  N.  Y.;  and 
even  here,  the  relations  between  the  male  and  female  prisons,  both 
in  respect  of  proximity  and  otherwise,  are  too  close  to  permit  to 
the  latter  the  enjoyment  of  anything  like  the  full  benefits  of  sepa- 
ration. There  are  no  women  in  the  state  prison  of  Massachusetts, 
persons  of  that  sex,  convicteil  of  felonies,  being  uniformly  sent  to 
the  county  houses  of  correction,  even  where  the  sentence  is  for  life. 
All  the  other  state  prisons,  visited  by  us,  have  female  depart- 
ments, except  that  of  Northern  Indiana,  at  Michigan  City,  which 
is  in  an  inchoate  state,  and  could  not,  at  present,  receive  them. 

We  have  alreadj',  in  the  brief  outline  heretofore  sketched  in  this 
report  of  a  prison  system  for  New  York,  stated,  at  some  length, 


112 


PRISONS  AND   REFORMATORIES   OF   THE 


our  objections  to  the  plan  of  having  male  and  female  prisoners 
confined  within  the  same  enclosure,  and  especially  in  the  same 
building;  and  it  would  be  worse  than  superfluous  to  repeat  them 
here.  We  would  simply  remark,  in  passing,  that  complaint  was 
almost  everywhere  made  of  the  trouble  arising  from  this  source, 
and  the  conviction  expressed  of  the  extreme  desirableness,  if  not 
absolute  necessity,  of  a  complete  separation  of  the  sexes  by  con- 
fining them  in  diflerent  prisons,  and  placing  those  prisons  in  dif- 
ferent localities.  The  great  difliculty  of  preventing  communica- 
tion, when  the  sexes  are  confined  in  the  same  prison,  is  well  illus- 
trated by  an  inciJcnt  related  in  the  second  annual  report  of  the 
Boston  Prison  Discipline  Society,  1827.  In  the  state  prison  of 
New  Hampshire,  a  male  and  female  prisoner  occupied  rooms  in 
the  extremities  of  the  building,  one  in  the  lower  story  at  the  north 
end,  and  the  other  in  the  third  story  at  the  south  end;  and  yet, 
though  strangers  to  each  other  at  the  commencement  of  their  im 
prisoumcnt,  they  managed  to  form  an  acquaintance  and  carry  on 
a  courtship,  which  resulted  in  marriage,  after  their  discharge. 
This  is  matched,  if  not  overmatched,  by  some  female  prisoners  in 
Preston  jail,  England,  mentioned  by  the  Eev.  John  Clay,  late 
chaplain  of  that  prison,  who,  he  says,  climbed  over  a  chevaux-de- 
/rise,  which  he  Avould  have  thought  utterly  impassable,  in  order 
to  get  into  the  ward  of  the  other  sex. 

A  practical  difficulty,  of  no  little  magnitude,  encounters  us  at 
this  point.  In  most  of  the  states,  there  are  not  female  convicts 
enough  to  warrant  the  erection  and  maintenance  of  prisons  for 
them  alone,  and  there  are  no  other  prisons,  as  in  Massachusetts, 
to  which  they  can  be  sent.  This  difficulty  would  be  obviated  by 
the  establishment  in  the  several  states  of  district  prisons,  interme- 
diate between  the  state  prison  and  the  common  jail,  each  to  servo 
as  a  house  of  correction  for  several  counties;  a  class  of  prisons 
which  we  consider  essential  in  a  comprehensive  and  efficient  sys- 
tem of  penal  institutions  for  any  state  or  county;  and  in  the  estab- 
lishment of  which,  as  intimated  in  our  sketch  of  a  plan  for  New 
York,  the  sexes  should  be  in  distinct  buildings,  at  a  distance  from 
each  other. 

We  have  stated  the  dimensions  of  the  cells  in  all  the  prisons 
mentioned  in  the  foregoing  detail.  In  reference  to  netrly  all  of 
them,  we  have  the  same  criticism  to  offer — that  they  are  much  too 
small  for  either  sanitary  or  moral  purposes;  and  in  most  of  them 
the  furniture  is  deficient,  whether  viewed  in  relation  to  comfort, 


UNITED  STATES   AND    CANADA. 


113 


ordor,  or  cleanliness.  In  both  these  respects,  they  are,  in  general, 
inferior  to  the  cells  which  Howard  found  in  the  principal  prison 
of  tho  Netherlands,  the  tnaison  de  force,  at  Ghent,  on  his  visit 
there  in  177G.  Each  cell,  occupied  by  a  single  prisoner  at  night, 
was  six  feet  ten  inches  long,  five  feet  four  inchris  wide,  and  seven 
feet  eight  inches  high.  The  furniture  of  each  was  a  bedstead,  a 
strawbed,  a  mattress,  a  pillow,  a  pair  of  sheets,  two  blankets,  a 
small  bench,  a  shutter  to  the  lattice  window  in  the  door,  (nine- 
teen inches  by  fifteen)  which,  when  let  down,  served  as  a  table, 
and  a  cupboard  in  the  wall,  two  feet  by  one,  and  ten  inches  deep. 
We  do  not  recall  any  cells  of  equal  size  in  our  American  prisons, 
except  those  in  the  female  department  of  tho  state  penitentiary  of 
Wisconsin,  which  are  ten  feet  long,  six  wide  and  eight  high;  while 
those  in  tho  provincial  penitentiary  of  Canada  arc  considerably 


smaller   than   any   of    ours. 


being 


brought    down   to  the  most 


diminutive  proportions  in  which  an  ordinary-sized  mortal  could 
find  accommodations  for  his  outer  man.  We  consider  tho  small 
size  of  tho  cells  in  most  American  prisons,  our  own  state  included, 
little,  if  at  all,  short  of  positive  cruelty.  It  gives  no  additional 
security,  is  at  war  Avitli  cleanliness,  and  proves  a  perpetual 
hindrance  to  the  mental,  moral,  and  physical  welfare  of  their 
inmates.  The  argument  in  its  favor — economy — is  one  which  no 
state  has  a  right  to  use,  where  such  vital  interests,  her  own  as 
well  as  those  of  her  prisoners,  are  at  stake. 

We  have  not  often,  in  the  foregoing  detail,  noticed  the  size  of 
the  Avindows  in  the  prisons  visited;  but  we  have  this  general 
remark  to  make  concerning  them,  that,  with  comparatively  few 
exceptions,  they  are  altogether  too  small,  the  dead  wall  being  out 
of  all  proportion  to  the  window  space.  In  this,  as  in  most  other 
points  of  construction,  the  Massachusetts  state  prison  stands 
without  a  peer  among  the  prisons  on  this  western  continent,  there 
being,  in  effect,  little  more  masonry  in  the  walls  that  enclose  tho 
blocks  of  cells  than  what  is  sufficient  to  make  them  perfectly  solid 
and  firm,  all  the  remaining  space  being  taken  up  with  windows. 
In  the  descending  scale.  Sing  Sing  has  the  place  of  bad  eminence, 
the  proportion  of  window  to  wall  being,  we  should  think,  less 
than  half  what  it  is  in  any  other  prison  in  the  country.  Dr. 
Pryne,  the  intelligent  physician  of  the  prison,  has  expressed  the 
opinion,  officially,  that  the  deficiency  of  sunlight  contributes,  in  a 
great  degree,  to  the  ill  health  of  the  prisoners.     There  can  be  no 

[Assem.  No.  35.J  8 


114 


PRISONS  AND   REFORMATORIES  OF   THE 


doubt  tliiit  the  small  windows  of  prisons  are  bad  in  their  eflect  on 
health,  by  diminishing  the  Hiipply  of  light,  just  as  cellars  and 
other  darkened  situations  aHuet  injuriously  the  health  ot  plants. 
But  there  is  another  way,  in  Avhieh  small  Avindows  have  an  unfa- 
vorable eft'ect  upon  the  health  of  prisoners,  viz.:  by  obstructing 
the  entrance  of  pure  air.  The  air  brought  into  prisons  by  means 
of  flues  is  not  at  all  comparable  to  that  which  comes  direct 
through  an  open  window;  and,  other  thiiigs  being  equal,  those 
prisons  will  be  found  most  conspicuous  for  the  health  of  their 
inmates,  in  Avhich  there  is  the  most  abimdant  supply  of  pine  fresh 
air  straight  from  the  heavens.  Prison  windows  should,  therefore, 
be  lai'ge;  and  they  may  safely  be  made  so,  if  guarded  by  wrought 
iron  bars,  as  in  Massachusetts.  We  would  also  have  the  glass  of 
the  ordinary  kind,  instead  of  half  opaque.  There  may  be,  and 
doubtless  are,  some  advantages  in  preventing  prisoners  from 
looking  out  of  their  cells;  but  they  are  more  than  counterbalanced 
by  the  loss  of  light,  with  its  attendant  gloom. 

The  size  of  the  prisons  in  some  of  the  states  is  a  point  in  them, 
which  cannot  fail  to  have  attracted  the  attention  of  the  careful 
reader.  They  contain  eight  hundred,  nine  hundred,  one  thousand, 
and  in  one  case — Sing  Sing — one  thousand  two  hundred  cells. 
Now  we  desire,  just  here,  to  express  our  opposition  to  prisons  of 
such  magnitude,  and  to  utter  our  solemn  caveat  against  them. 
They  are  subversive  of  one  of  the  most  important  principles  of 
prison  discipline,  as  evolved  and  established  by  recent  experi- 
ments, particularly  in  Ireland,  and  which  has  been  named  anc?/- 
vidualization;  by  which  wo  uiiderstand  the  thorough  study  of 
the  character  of  each  prisoner,  and  the  adaptation  of  the  disci- 
pline, as  far  as  that  can  be  done  consistently  with  a  due  legard  to 
general  principles,  to  his  personal  peculiarities.  It  is  obvious,  on 
the  least  reflection,  that  the  application  of  such  a  principle  is 
practicable  only  in  prisons  of  quite  moderate  size.  lu  our 
judgment,  three  hundred  prisoners  are  enough  to  form  the 
population  of  a  single  prison;  and,  in  no  case,  would  we  have 
the  number  exceed  five  hundred  or  six  hundred.  In  this  judgment 
we  are  confirmed  by  the  opinion  of  the  most  intelligent  prison 
ofiicers,  examined  by  the  commission  of  the  Prison  Association  of 
1866,  who,  we  believe,  with  entire  unanimity,  expressed  a  similar 
conviction. 

The  erection  of  prisons  of  moderate  dimensions  would  facili- 
tate the  classification  of  prisoners  on  the  only  sound  principle  and 


great 


UNITED  STATES  AND  CANADA. 


115 


through  the  only  cffectivo  agency — the  classification  of  prisons 
theinselvos;  the  various  classes  of  ofTendcrs  being  conunitted  to 
])rison8  designed  specially  for  their  reception  and  treatment.  As 
far  as  practicable  we  wonld  have, 

1.  Separate  prisons  for  females.  But  on  this  subject  wo  have 
already  presented  our  views  sufficiently  at  large. 

2.  Separate  prisons  for  the  young.  We  do  not  hen;  refer  to 
houses  of  refuge  or  reform  schools,  but  to  prisons  in  the  strict 
sense.  Two  advantages,  arising  from  the  division  of  i>risoners 
according  to  sex,  economy  in  construction  and  simplicity  of  man- 
iigoment,  would  be  still  further  promoted  by  a  division  according 
to  age.  In  such  a  division  there  would  be  the  added  advantage 
of  withdrawing  from  such  youthful  transgressors  the  frequent 
spectacle  of  men  and  women  who  liavc  been  convicted  of  crimes, 
and  who  ai'o  undergoing  punishment;  a  sight  in  itself  demoraliz- 
ing, and  to  Avhich  they  would  be  exposed,  even  though  the 
arrangements  of  the  prison  should  bo  such  as  to  guard  against  the 
greater  evil  of  contamination  through  promiscuous  intercourse. 
In  prisons  of  the  kind  here  proposed,  greater  attention  could  be 
given  to  education  than  would  be  proper  in  institutions  designed 
for  oft'enders  of  more  advanced  age.  Indeed,  the  Avholo  might 
properly  be  made  to  assume  ;'ie  character  more  of  a  well-conducted 
work-house  school  than  of  an  ordinary  prison. 

3.  Separate  prisons  for  different  occupations.  After  securing  a 
classification  according  to  sex  and  age,  the  most  important  prin- 
ciple of  distribution  is  identity,  or  at  least  similarity,  of  employ- 
ment. As  far  as  may  be,  let  the  same  occupation  be  pursued  by 
all  the  inmates  of  any  given  prison,  so  that  there  shall  be  no 
necessity  of  having  tools  and  machinery  adapted  to  different  em- 
ployments and  oflScers  qualified  to  give  instruction  therein.  The 
application  of  this  principle  would  necessitate  the  establishment 
of  both  agricultural  and  manufacturing  prisons,  and  would  require 
that  the  latter  should  be  constructed,  some  for  .one  kind  of  work 
and  some  for  another. 

4.  Separate  prisons  for  the  worst  class  of  offenders.  As  in  the 
world  at  large,  so  in  a  prison,  it  is  found  that  the  chief  trouble  is 
given  by  comparatively  few  persons.  It  would,  therefore,  bo  a 
great  relief  to  withdraw  these  few  from  the  prisons  where  they 
are  found  so  troublesome  and  create  nearly  all  the  difficulty,  and 
to  place  them  in  buildings  expressly  adapted  for  them,  and  under 
officers  posiessing  peculiar  qualifications  for  their  manage    mt. 


116 


PRISONS  AND  REFORMATORIES  OF  THE 


Such  nn  nrrnngpiiu'nt  would  Miinplify  tho  ndininistrntion  of  (ho 
ordinury  prisoiiH,  and  greatly  dituiiiiHh  tho  eoMt  of  thuir  construe- 
tiou,  while,  at  tho  Huine  time,  it  would  be  the  greatest  benefit  to 
the  class  thu8  H(>gregated,  winee  they  wonhl  thereby  be  placed 
luuler  eircuinstaiices.  and  Hubjected  to  u  r^ffivie  best  adapted  to 
their  special  treatment.  If  corrigible,  their  cure  would  i)o  likely 
to  bo  etfceted  through  this  instrumentality;  if  incorrigible,  they 
should  b(  made  comfortable,  and  detained  for  life.  Uut  on  this 
stibject  more  hereafter. 

It  occurs  to  us  to  remark,  in  piussing,  that,  however  great  tho 
advantages  of  such  a  cliussitication  of  prisons  and  of  prisoners  as 
tho  necevssary  sequence,  tho  adoption  of  tho  system  is  (piito  im- 
possible under  the  present  plan  of  separate  local  jurisdictions, 
which  prevails  in  this  and  other  states.  It  is  a  system  which  can 
.neither  be  established  nor  worked  otherwise  than  by  combined 
acti(m  and  a  general  administration.  If  tho  system  has  any  merit, 
it  is  a  fresh  argument  for  the  creation  of  that  central  authority  for 
tho  control  and  management  of  our  whole  prison  system,  which 
has  been  recommended  mid  urged  on  other  grounds  in  a  former 
part  of  this  report. 


SECTION  FOURTH. 

GoVEltNMENT. 

The  government  of  our  American  prisons  has  already  been 
considered,  in  the  section  on  their  general  administration,  so  far 
as  the  duties  of  their  .several  boards  of  inspectors  are  concerned. 
At  letist,  this  Ims  been  done  in  part.  The  title  of  inspectors,  as 
applied  to  these  officers,  we  consider  rather  a  misnomer.  Their 
function  is  one  of  government  rather  than  of  simple  inspection. 
Managers,  governors,  or  directors  (this  lost  indeed  they  are  some- 
times called),  would  have  been  more  betitting  their  true  position 
in  our  prison  systems  than  that  of  inspectors,  Avhich  is  tho  one 
given  them  in  nearly  all  the  states. 

Although  the  inspectors  are  nowhere  the  immediate  agents  in 
the  administration  of  the  prison  government,  yet  everywhere  (or 
if  there  be  any  exceptions,  such  are  very  fcAv),  they  direct  it. 
They  make  tho  regulations,  as  stated  in  the  last  section,  wh'oh  the 
wardens  arc  charged  to  execute  ;  and  they  constantly  watch  over 
this  execution.    Their  legal  authority  is  substantially  the  same  in 


UNITED  STATES  AND  CANADA. 


117 


the  (liflbrcnt  stutea ;  hut  tlio  umniuu*  und  extent  of  its  exorcise 
VHi'ieM  jxrcutly,  tlio  purt  tiikeii  in  the  utTiiii'M  of  the  pri.son  heing 
nuioh  more  active  in  some  etutea  thuii  in  others.  In  New  York, 
for  exaiii[>lc,  tliis  authority  \h  ull'pcrviuJing,  und  makes  itself  felt 
in  every  <lepurtment  of  the  government.  In  their  ussoeiuted  co* 
pacify  as  a  board,  tlie  inspectors  are  obliged  to  hold  a  meeting 
once  every  three  months  at  each  of  the  state  prisons.  They  re- 
move and  appoint  all  otficers  ;  superintend  the  letting  of  contracts  ; 
examine  and  pass  upon  all  accounts;  inquire  into  and  give  dlrec* 
tioiis  concerning  matters  of  tinance  ;  investigate  the  sanitary  con- 
dition  of  the  prison,  and  also  the  (pnintity  and  quality  of  the  food 
furnished  to  the  convicts ;  receive  and  consider  the  quarterly  re- 
ports of  the  physicians,  store  keeper,  and  superintendent  of  the 
kitchen  ;  and,  in  a  word,  make  a  general,  which  ought  also  to  bo 
a  searching  survey  of  the  prison,  in  all  its  industrial  operations 
and  all  the  departments  of  its  administration. 

Besides  these  general  functions,  exercised  by  the  whole  body  of 
inspectors,  each  inspector  has  the  caie  of  one  of  the  three  state 
prisons  for  four  consecutive  months  of  each  year,  under  the  name 
and  title  of  the  inspector  in  charge.  It  is  the  duty  of  the  inspector 
in  charge  to  spend  at  least  one  Aveek  of  every  month  at  the  prison 
under  his  care  ;  to  till  vacancies  that  may  have  occurred,  subject 
to  the  approval  of  the  boai'd  ;  to  receive  and  examine  the  com- 
plaints of  convicts,  and  take  such  action  thereupon  as,  in  his  judg- 
ment, the  several  cases  may  require ;  to  examine  and  approve  the 
estimates  of  the  ensuing  month  ;  to  order  the  removal  of  insane 
convicts  to  the  state  lunatic  asylum  at  Auburn  ;  and,  generally, 
to  supervise  and  direct  the  affairs  of  the  prison  in  its  numerous  and 
varied  interests  and  operations.  He  is  further,  required  to  record, 
in  the  inspectors'  book  of  minutes,  all  his  official  acts  during  his 
term  of  superintendence,  which  record  is  examined  and  passed 
upon  by  the  board  at  its  next  quarterly  meeting. 

In  Pennsylvania,  the  services  of  the  inspectors,  both  at  Phila- 
delphia and  Pittsburgh,  are  gratuitous,  the  only  exception  being 
that  the  treasurer,  who  is  always  a  member  of  the  board,  receives 
a  moderate  salary,  to  compensate  him  for  the  responsibility  as- 
sumed and  the  time  expended  in  the  duties  of  the  office.  In  all 
the  other  states,  some  compensation  is  paid  ;  but  it  is,  in  general, 
quite  small,  not  exceeding,  for  the  most  part,  $100  or  $200  per 
annum.  In  Ohio,  Vermont  and  Michigan,  it  is  in  the  form  of  a 
per  diem  (three  dollars)  paid  only  for  actual  service,  and  iu  the 


118 


PRISONS  AND  REFORMATORIES  OF  THE 


last  named  state,  the  time  during  which  any  compensation  is  al- 
lowed, is  limited  to  thirty  days.  In  New  York  and  Canada,  the 
case  is  quite  diflerent,  iona ^iZe  sahiries  being  there  paid,  intended 
as  a  full  remuneration  for  services  rendered.  In  New  York,  the 
salary  is  $1500,  and  all  necessary  expenses  ;  in  Canada,  we  believe 
the  law  to  be  exactly  the  same  in  respect  to  both  particulars  ;  and, 
under  both  governments,  there  is  a  liberal  interpretation  of  the 
phrase  "necessary  expenses,"  it  being  expected  that  an  inspector 
will  travel  and  live  like  a  gentleman. 

The  staff  of  officers  in  the  prisons  visited  by  us,  consists  usually 
of  a  head  (called  warden,  agent,  keeper,  commissioner,  and  in  our 
own  state,  agent  and  warden),  a  deputy  under  him  (called  also  by 
different  titles),  a  clerk,  a  chaplain,  a  physician,  keepers  or  over- 
seers, and  guards.  Some  have  also  one  or  more  teachers,  though 
here  the  usage  is  far  from  uniform.  The  number  of  officers  com- 
posing the  staff  differs  exceedingly  in  different  prisons,  even  be- 
yond what  would  be  supposed  from  their  variant  populations, 
ranging  from  six,  the  number  at  Windsor,  Vermont,  to  eighty-nine, 
the  niunber  at  Sing  Sing,  New  York.  Next  to  Sing  Sing  comes 
the  provincial  penitentiary,  Canada — seventy-five ;  then  Auburn, 
N.  Y. — sixty-three  ;  and  then,  the  Ohio  state  prison — fifty-four. 
There  are  no  resident  chaplains  in  the  prisons  of  Illinois,  Northern 
Indiana,  Kentucky,  Maine,  Mar^'land,  Missouri,  Rhode  Island  or 
Vermont ;  and  none  in  the  county  jails  of  Delaware  and  West 
Virginia,  in  which  the  state  prisoners  are  kept ; — a  fact  as  start- 
ling as  it  is  painful,  and  evincing  either  a  lamentable  lack  of  in- 
terest in  the  religious  welfare  of  the  convicts,  or  a  very  low  ap- 
preciation of  the  value  of  religious  agencies  as  a  means  of  doing 
them  good.  We  do  not  mean  to  say  that  in  none  of  the  prisons 
named  are  any  religious  exercises  held,  nor  even  that  the  stated 
services  of  ministers  of  the  gospel  are  not  called  into  requisition 
to  a  greater  or  less  extent.  We  will  not,  however,  enter  into  fur- 
ther detail  upon  the  subject  at  this  point,  as  the  whole  matter  will 
be  fully  set  forth  under  another  division  of  our  report.  \ 

It  is  hardly  necessary  to  enter  into  a  detail  of  the  duties  of  the 
several  6fficers  and  classes  of  officers  composing  our  prison  staffs. 
Beyond  what  has  already  been  said,  in  a  former  section  of  this 
chapter,  in  regard  to  the  important  position  and  functions  of  the 
head  of  the  prison,  these  duties  are,  perhaps,  .sufficiently  indicated, 
in  a  general  way,  by  the  titles  of  those  officers;  and  to  descend  to 


sligl 


UNITED  STATES  AND  CANADA. 


119 


minute  specifications  would  swell  the  size  of  this  repol't  and  tax 
the  patience  of  the  reader  without  necessity. 

American  prisons  do  not  pay  what  can,  with  any  propriety,  be 
termed  liberal  salaries  to  their  officers.     The  gentlemen  at  the 
head  of  the  prisons  receive  a  larger  compensation  than  any  of  their 
subordinates,  relatively  as  Avell  as  absolutely,  since,  in  addition  to 
their  stipend  in  money,  they  are  all  provided  with  residences, 
and  many  of  them  have  other  perquisites  of  more  or  less  valuo. 
Massachusetts  pays  the  warden  of  her  state  prison  $2,600;  Can- 
ada, $2,250;    Pennsylvania,  Maine  and  Missouri,  each  $2,000; 
while  New  York  gives  the  wai  dens  of  her  vast  penal  establish- 
ments l)ut  $1,800;  the  great  state  of  Ohio  repays  the  services  of 
her  chief  prison  officer  Avith  $1,400;   Connecticut  and  Wisconsin 
give  each  $1,200;  and  Vermont  and  Ncav  Hampshire  each  $800. 
It  is  obvious  that,  with  an  exception  or  two,  salaries  like  these 
would  not  command  that  high  administrative  and  executive  ability 
which  is  required  in  such  positions,  and  that  men,  like  some  of 
those  now  and  heretofore  in  office,  whom  we  could  name,  would 
not  be  found  at  the  head  of  our  state  penitentiaries,  if  they  Avere 
not  influenced  by  a  nobler  sentiment  than  that  of  mere  pecuniary 
interest.     A  fcAV  of  the  hiirher  officers  of  a  subordinate  jsi-rade— 
deputies,  clerks,  chaplain.*,  and  physicians-^are  respectably  re- 
munerated; but  the  most  of  these,  and  nearly  the  whole  body  of 
officers  constituting  the  police  force  of  the  prisons,  receive  a 
compensation  less  than  the  average  wages  now  paid  to  ordinary 
mechanics.     It  is  idle  to  even  dream  of  securing  officers  for  our 
penitentiaries,  possessing  suitable  qualifications,  Avhen  every  per- 
son, gifted  with  some  capacity,  can  so  readily  find  a  more  profit- 
able career  than  that  ofl[ered  by  the  administration  of  prisons. 
Now,  in  fixing  the  scale  of  salaries  for  prison  officers,  it  must  be 
borne  in  mind  that,  in  order  to  induce  persons  endouetl  with  the 
requisite  qualifications  to  undertake  the  laborions  duties  Avhich 
they  will  have  to  perform,  it  is  necessary  to  ofi!er  a  higher  remuner- 
ation than  that  by  which  services  can  be  ol)tained  for  ordinary  em- 
ployments, where  the  moral  qualities  of  the  individual  are  but 
slightly  scanned,  and  where  he  is  free  from  many  of  the  restric- 
tions and  annoyances  to  which  a  prison  officer  nnist,  of  necessity, 
be  subjected.  ^ ,     v  . 

We  have  spoken  of  "suitable  qualifications"  in  prison  officers. 
What  sort  of  qualifications,  then,  are  those  which  may  be  deemed 
"suitable?"  This  question  is  important,  since,  without  doubt,  the 
very  first  requisite  for  obtaining  good  prison  officers  is  to  have  a 


320 


PRISONS  AND  REFORMATORIES  OF   THE 


clear  and  just  conception  of  their  necessary  qualifications.  As  a 
general  rule,  the  success  of  any  scheme  of  discipline  will  depend 
far  more  on  the  persons  employed  to  carry  it  out,  than  on  the 
precise  regulations  laid  doAvn.  It  is  the  moral  influence  of  the 
man,  not  the  stringency  of  a  rule,  however  wise,  that  will  do  most 
for  the  objects  we  have  in  view  in  prison  discipline.  To  such  an 
extent  do  wc  consider  this  the  case,  and  so  supremely  important 
do  wc  regard  the  appointment  of  {rood  prison  officers,  that  wc 
should  confidently  expect  better  results  in  one  of  the  worst  built 
prisons,  without  any  prescribed  system  of  discipline,  but  where 
there  was  an  able  and  earnest  head,  aided  by  competent  sul)ordi- 
nates,  than  in  the  best  constructed  building,  and  under  the  most 
carefully  devised  plans  of  management,  but  where  there  was  an 
incompetent  chief,  Avith  ill-qualified  assistants. 

Prison  officers  should  be  men  of  strict  and  uniform  sohnety. — 
"Touch  not,  taste  not,"  should  be  their  rule  in  regard  to  all 
intoxicating  liquors.  It  is  bad  to  see  red  faces  in  a  prison  staff. 
Convicts  say  at  once,  "These  men  indulge  in  a  vice,  Avhich  shoAvs 
itself  in  their  faces.  Perhaps  avc  can  tempt  them  to  do  other  im- 
proper acts,  such  as  furnishing  us  Avith  contraband  articles,  grant- 
ing indulgences,  and  the  like." 

They  should  he  men  of  mild  temper,  quiet  manners,  and  pure 
conversation. — If  they  are  passionate  and  irascible,  if  they  use 
harsh  or  petulant  language,  if  they  are  profane  or  vulgar  in  their 
speech,  if  they  revile  religion  or  even  speak  disrespectfully  of  it, 
if  they  sympathize  in  taste  and  feeling  Avith  the  convicts — Avhat 
can  be  expected  but  that  they  Avill  harm  rather  than  benefit  their 
AA'ards?  What,  indeed,  but  a  revolting  union  of  keepers  and 
prisoners  in  one  corrupt  mass? 

They  should  be  men  of  decision  and  energy. — Quick  to  discern 
and  prompt  to  act  are  qualities  equally  indispensable  Avith  gentle- 
ness and  equanimity. 

They  should  be  men  of  humane  and  benevolent  feelings. — Thou- 
sands of  bad  men  are  constantly  immured  in  our  prisons,  and, 
Avhile  there,  they  are  placed  under  the  care  and  government  of 
some  hundreds  of  officers.  The  opportunities  of  usefulness,  en- 
joyed by  these  persons,  may  be  seen  by  Avliat  Avas  accomplished 
by  Elizabeth  Fry  in  NcAVgate,  Sarah  Martin  in  Yarmouth  jail,  and 
John  Howard  in  many  prisons.  These  distinguished  philanthro- 
pists showed  hoAv  much  can  be  done  Avith  even  the  most  depraved 
criminals,  and  that  human  nature,  in  its  very  Avorst  state,  is  not 


UNITED  STATES  AND  CANADA. 


121 


wholly  lost,  but  can,  by  kinci  and  benevolent  agencies,  be  wrought 
upon  with  success.  They  entered  prison  walls  as  ministers  of  love 
and  mercy;  and  guilt,  in  its  most  repulsive  forms,  relinquished 
its  hold  upon  its  victims,  and  repentance  became,  as  it  were,  a 
new  birth  of  innocence. 

They  should  be  men  having  a  sincere  interest  in  those  placed 
under  their  care. — Such  interest  it  is,  which  constitutes  the  true 
key  to  a  prisoner's  heart;  and  if  an  oiEcer  possess  this,  superadded 
to  the  other  qualifications  necessary  to  command  respect,  his  influ- 
ence over  his  prisoners  will  be  very  great.     It  is  often  the  case 
that,  up  to  the  time  of  his   commitment,  a  criminal  has  had  no 
one  to  give  him  counsel  or  sympathy;  no  virtuous  parent  or  kind 
relative,  to  feel  for  him  or  guide  him  aright.     In  the  heart  of  such 
an  one,  there  must,  of  necessity,  be  a  void,  which  is,  perhaps,  first 
filled  by  a  kind  prison  oflicer.     As  the  eifect  of  this  sympathy  and 
kindly  interest,  an  almost  filial  affection  sometimes  springs  up  in 
the  minds  of  prisoners  towards  a  good  warden,  keeper,  chaplain 
or  matron.     It  is  i-elated  l)y  Mr.  Frederick  Hill,  that  under  the 
influence  of  this  feeling,  liberated  prisoners,  when  attacked  with 
mortal  sickness,  have  s  nt  for  Mr.  Smith,  governor  of  the  Edin- 
burgh prison,  as  the  »         J    end  on  whom  they  could  rely;  and 
that  hundreds  of  his  f'   :     •   prisoners  followed  to  his  grave  Mr. 
Brebner,  late  governor  of  the  prison  at  Glasgow,  mourning  the 
loss  of  one  who  had  been  to  them  a  friend,  protector  and  guardian, 
rather  than  a  stern  prison  officer,  and  by  whom  many  of  them  had 
been  redeemed  from  a  life  of  crime  and  misery. 

The^  should  be  men  of  high  moral  principle,  and  distinguished 
hy  habits  of  industry,  order  and  cleanliness. — The  lowest  officer  in 
a  prison,  even  the  keeper  of  a  lock-up,  should  be  a  person  supe- 
rior, in  these  respects,  to  the  ordinary  run  of  the  working  classes, 
that  he  may  constantly  present  to  the  wrong-doers  who  come  under 
his  charge  an  example  Avorthy  of  their  imitation. 

They  should  be  men  j^ossessing  a  knowledge  of  human  nature  in 
its  various  aspects  and  relations. — Experience  in  the  Avalks  of  life, 
an  acquaintance  with  the  springs  of  human  conduct,  and  a  capa- 
city to  discern  the  leading  passions  of  individuals,  and  especially 
all  their  weak  points,  are  included  in  that  knowledge  of  men  of 
which  we  speak,  and  which  we  deem  an  essential,  or  at  least  an 
important,  quality  in  a  good  prison  officer. 

They  should  be  men  nf  sterling  and  incorruptible  honesty. — As 
keepers  of  unusually  sound  and  vigorous  minds  are  sought  for  the 


122 


PRISONS  AND  REFORMATORIES  OF  THE 


I 


I 

i 


|i  i 


iinpro  ;.'ed  lunatic  asylums  of  our  day,  so  those  who  have  the  cavo 
of  cnminals  should  bo  not  only  without  taint,  but,  like  Cuesar's 
wife,  above  suspicion.  They  should  be  absolutely  free  from  all 
those  little  practices  of  deceit,  which,  in  ordinary  persons,  might 
pass,  perhaps,  without  much  animadversion. 

T/ie?/  should  be  men  of  experience. — This  qualification,  which  is 
one  of  prime  importance  and  value,  necessitates  two  conditions, 
viz  :  an  appointment  to  office  before  the  meridian  of  life  has  been 
passed,  and,  secontlly,  permanence  in  the  tenure  of  office.  Time 
and  observation  pke  necessary  to  obtain  sufficient  experience  to 
enable  men  to  '.ict  with  «liscrotion  and  efficiency  in  the  manage- 
ment of  prisoners  ;  and  these  are  advanta;|es  which  cannot  be  had 
in  the  case  either  of  those  who  are  appointed  to  office  late  in  life, 
or  of  those  wlio  are  ejected  from  office  a  few  months  or  even  a  few 
years  '^fter  their  appointment. 

T/i€>/  must  be  men  of  ajmt  and  steadfast  purpose,  free  from  pre- 
judice and  partiality. — That  eminent  American  divine,  the  late  Dr. 
Mason,  wa?<  accustomed  to  say  that  there  were  thi'ce  principles, 
which,  l>eing  wisely  applied,  v»'ere  sufficient  to  govern  an  empire ; 
they  are:  "Be  reasonable,  be  lii'm,  bo  uniform."  These  maxims 
are  no  less  applicable  to  the  government  of  a  prison  than  they  are 
to  that  of  a  state. 

They  should  be  men  of  untiring  vigilance. — Convicts  are  prone 
to  idleness  ;  most  of  them  have  never  been  trained  to  hal)its  of  in- 
dustry ;  and,  as  a  class,  they  are  cunning  and  deceitful.  Keepers 
must  be  vigilant,  or  prisons  will  be  schools  of  vice. 

Thpy  should  have  a  liking  for  the  occupation  in  which  they  are 
engaged — Without  this,  there  can  be  no  heart,  no  enthusiasm,  lit- 
tle interest  even  in  their  work ;  and  these  conditions  Avanting, 
everything  is  wanting  adapted  to  insure  success,  or  likely  to  render 
their  career  as  prison  officers  useful. 

Finally,  prison  officers  should  be  men  duly  impressed  tcith  relig- 
ious friuciples;  men  who  fear  God,  and  are  in  the  habit,  as  the  ex- 
pression of  that  reverence,  of  attending  the  services  of  somereligiovs 
body. — What  adequate  security  other  than  that  of  religious  princi- 
ple, can  they  have  against  the  temptations  incident  to  their  situa- 
tion ?  Few  men  have  greater  temptations  to  fraud.  Few  are 
more  open  to  the  assaults  of  bribery.  Few  have  greater  trials! 
of  temper.  Few  become  abusive  and  injurious  with  greater 
impunity.  All  these  are  sore  trials  of  strength,  severe  tests  of 
character.     This  is  particularly  the  case  iu  regard  of  the  temptti- 


domesti 
knowle( 


UNITED  STATES  AND  CANADA. 


123 


tion  to  resort  to  improper  methods  of  money-making.  To  this 
many  prison  officers  succumb, — some  even  of  those  who  fill  the 
higher  positions.  Many  convicts  either  have  money  secreted  on 
the  prison  premises  or  can  command  it  outride,  and  they  are  will- 
ing to  pay  liberally  for  exemptions  and  privileges,  which  their 
officers  have  it  in  their  power,  in  various  Avays,  to  accord.  Is  it 
strange  that  a  willingness  of  this  sort  in  the  prisoners  should  be 
met  by  a  willingness  of  another  sort  on  the  part  of  those  who  have 
the  charge  of  them  ?  There  are  officers — we  could  wish  that  the 
number  were  less — who  receive  more  money  in  gratuities  from 
convicts,  than  they  receive  in  salary  from  the  state.  It  is  painful 
to  us  to  be  obliged  to  make  such  statements  ;  but  if  there  is  a 
canker  of  this  kind  at  work  in  our  prisons, — and  that  there  is,  no 
one  conversant  with  them  can  doubt  or  deny, — the  public  should 
know  it.  HoAv  else  can  they  apply  the  proper  corrective  ?  This 
corrective  Ave  conceive  to  be  fourfold — the  liberation  of  prisons 
from  the  control  of  party  politics,  the  payment  of  higher  salaries, 
a  more  permanent  tenure  of  official  position,  and,  as  the  resultant 
of  all  this,  the  appointment  of  better  men  to  office.  But  we  an- 
ticipate, as  these  matters  Avill  fall  more  naturally  elsewhere. 

In  regard  to  the  qualifications  of  prison  officers,  we  v/ill  add  no 
more,  except  to  say,  in  tho  words  of  Mr.  F.  Hill,  that  "  the 
higher  the  officer's  position,  the  more  varied  and  numerous  are 
the  qualifications  required.  The  governor  of  a  large  prison 
should  be  a  person  of  strong  native  talent,  of  great  decision  of 
character,  yet  of  kind  and  aflfable  manners;  he  should  possess 
great  insight  into  human  character,  and  into  the  various  causes  of 
crime  and  springs  of  action;  and  he  should  be  influenced  by  a 
strong  desire  to  promote  the  permanent  Avelfare  [i.  e.,  the  reform- 
ation] of  the  prisoners  com.nitted  to  his  charge.  He  should  be 
possessed  of  poAvers  of  command  and  of  holding  others  to  re- 
sponsibility; and,  in  order  to  maintain  these  effectually,  it  is 
necessary  to  be  able  to  determine  Avhat  every  one  under  his 
authority  can  reasonably  be  expected  to  perform,  and  to  judge  of 
the  manner  in  Avhich  every  duty  is  discharged. 

And  this  in  regard  to  female  officers:  "The  qualifications  of 
female  officers  are,  ni  man;'  respects,  the  same  as  those  of  males. 
It  is  especially  ii.  portant,  however,  that  female  officers  should  be 
distinguished  for  modesty  of  demeanor,  and  the  exercise  of 
domestic  virtues,  and  thai;  they  should  possess  that  intimate 
knowledge  of  h'^usehold  employment.  Avhich  will  enable  them  to 


< 


124 


PRISONS  AND  REFORMATORIES  OF  THE 


teach  the  ignorant  and  neglected  female  prisoner  how  to  econo- 
mise  her  means,  so  as  to  guard  her  from  the  temptations  caused 
by  waste  and  extravagance." 

The  wardens  of  all  the  state  prisons  visited  by  the  under- 
signed were  asked  for  an  expression  of  their  views  as  to  the 
proper  qualifications  of  prison  officers.  Tho  answers,  given  with 
various  degrees  of  fullness,  agree  substantially  with  the  views  which 
we  have  set  forth  in  the  foregoing  paragraphs,  on  that  important 
subject. 

The  wardens  were  further  interrogated  as  to  how  far  the  re- 
quisite qualifications  are,  in  point  of  fact,  possessed  by  the  officers 
serving  under  them.  One  replies:  "It  is  intended  that  no  officer 
shall  be  employed  about  the'  prison,  Avho  does  not  possess  these 
qualifications."  A  few  say  thajt  the  qualifications  required  are 
possessed  by  their  under  officers  in  a  moderate  or  fair  degree. 
One  says  that  the  qualifications  for  holding  office  in  his  prison  are 
"good  morals,  general  intelligence,  vote  the  ticket,  'dwCi  support 
the  party  f^  and  that,  as  a  general  thing,  the  officers  are  qualified 
according  to  the  standard,  though  sometimes  mistakes  occur." 
Whether  the  mistakes  referred  to  concern  the  political  or  moral 
part  of  the  requisition  is  not  stated.  In  their  answers  generally, 
the  wardens  are  quite  free  in  the  expi'cssion  of  their  conviction  of 
the  want  of  fitness  or  adequate  qualification  in  their  subordinates. 
One  declares  them  "  very  deficient  in  these  qualifications."  An- 
other says  that  "not  one  in  twenty  is  qualified."  A  third  gives 
his  answer  in  these  words:  "Very  few  of  the  officers  whom  I 
employed  possessed  the  qualifications  mentioned.  Some  came 
near  possessing  them;  but  the  majority  had  but  a  dim  idea  of 
their  duties  and  responsibilities."  These  last  answers  strike  the 
key-note  of  the  majority  received  by  us. 

Now,  where  are  we  to  look  for  the  causes  of  this  almost  univer- 
sal lack  of  qualification  in  our  prison  officers  ?  One  cause,  and 
that  too  of  no  little  potency,  is  the  very  inadequate  compensation 
paid  them  for  their  services.  But  of  this  we  have  spoken 
before,  and  it  is  unnecessary  either  to  repeat  or  to  enlarge  upon 
that  point. 

The  supreme  cause,  however,  of  this  deficiency,  as  lamentable 
as  it  is  wide-spread,  is  to  be  found,  we  apprehend,  in  the  control- 
ling power  given  to  party  politics  over  the  management  of  the 
prisons  in  most  of  the  states.  We  know  of  but  one  state  that  has 
escaped  this  malign  influence;  the  fortunate  exception  is  Pennsyl- 


UNITED  STATES  AND  CANADA. 


125 


vania.  The  inspectors  in  this  state  are  appointed  by  the  supreme 
court,  a  body  at  once  more  permanent  and  less  subject  to  political 
influences  than  the  appointing  power  in  the  other  states;  and  to 
this  circumstance,  probably,  is  duo  the  happy  exemption  which 
we  have  mentioned.  It  is  claimed,  indeed,  that  in  Vermont,  poli- 
tics does  not  influence  the  appointment  of  officers  or  the  adminis- 
tration of  the  state  prison;  and  yet  the  directors  and  even  the 
warden  are  elected  annually  by  the  legislature,  a  body,  ex  neces- 
sitate ret,  essentially  political.  How,  then,  are  we  to  reconcile 
the  claim  with  the  fact?  Quite  readily,  at  least  in  the  only 
sense  in  which  the  claim  can  be  truly  made.  Owing  to  her  stead- 
fast adherence  to  one  policy,  Vermont  hjis  received  the  name  of 
"the  star  that  never  sets;"  and  the  memory  of  man  runneth  not 
to  the  contrary  of  the  uniform  ascendency  in  that  commonwealth 
of  the  same  political  party.  So  that  no  political  control  over  the 
management  of  the  prison  means,  there,  an  all-powerful  control — 
a  control  so  constant  and  pervading  that,  like  the  atmc.^phere,  it 
is  unseen  and  unappreciated.  The  same  claim  is  made  for  MassEi- 
chusctts  and  Maine,  and,  no  doubt,  upon  the  same  ground,  since  it 
is  made  in  the  face  of  the  fact  that,  in  both  states,  the  inspectors 
and  warden,  and  in  the  former,  the  chaplain  and  physician  also, 
are  appointed  by  the  governor  and  council,  a  body  as  necessarily 
and  completely  political  as  the  legislature  itself.  No  doubt  Messrs. 
Haynes  and  Rice  the  excellent  wardens  in  those  states,  in  the  ap- 
pointment of  t.^eir  subordinates,  have  a  prime  regard  to  fitness; 
but  let  political  parties  waver  there  as  they  do  in  some  other 
states — this  year  one  party  being  in  the  ascendant  and  the  next 
another — and,  unless  human  nature  is  a  difl*erent  thing  in  Massa- 
chusetts and  Maine  from  what  it  is  elsewhere,  the  idea  that  poli- 
tics has  nothing  to  do  with  the  management  of  the  prisons  will 
soon  be  a  thing  of  the  past. 

In  other  states  there  is  no  claim  of  exemption  from  political 
influence  over  the  government  and  administration  of  the  prisons. 
In  the  answers  given  to  our  interrogatories,  such  expressions  as 
the  following  are  of  frequent  occurrence:  "the  warden  is  chosen, 
by  the  legislature,  and,  of  course,  his  appointment  is  controlled 
by  party  politics;"  "  party  politics  influence,  to  a  great  extent, 
the  appointments  of  officers  in  this  prison;"  "party  politics  controls 
absolutely  the  appointment  of  the  staff"  of  prison  officers  here." 

But  nowhere  else,  probably,  does  political  influence  act  so  di- 
rectly and  powerfully,  indeed  with  such  an  abs'  lute  and  domi- 


126 


PRISONS  AND  REFORMATORIES   OF  THE 


i 


natiiig  effect,  as  in  Wisconsin  and  New  York.  In  the  fostmer  of 
these  states,  the  head  of  the  state  prison,  called  there  comniis* 
sioncr,  is  elected  at  the  same  time  and  in  the  same  manner  as  the 
Governor,  that  is  to  say,  by  direct  popular  vote,  at  the  general 
election,  every  two  years.  The  pr*.  sent  commissioner,  Mr.  Cor- 
dier,  in  answerinii  our  question  on  that  point,  does  not,  therefore, 
hesitate  to  say:  "Party  politics  controls  the  administration  of  the 
prison  entirely.  The  conunissioncr  owes  his  position  to  a  politi- 
cal party,  and  he  therefore  appoints  such  men  to  office  as  belong 
to  that  party."  In  our  state,  it  is  nuich  the  same,  only  worse  in 
one  particular,  as  we  will  presently  explain.  Here  the  inspectors, 
the  governing  power  in  our  prisons,  are  also  chosen  by  the  peo- 
ple, one  each  year,  at  the  general  election.  They  are  nominated 
by  party  conventions  and  elected  by  party  votes.  What  can  they 
do,  therefore,  but  obey  party  behests?  So  far  Wisconsin  and 
New  York  seem  to  stand  on  much  the  same  ground  in  reference 
to  their  prison  affairs.  But,  as  already  intimated,  there  is  one 
respect  in  which  the  latter  is  worse  off  than  the  former.  In  Wis- 
consin, the  commissioner  is  the  direct  agent  of  the  administration, 
and  responsible  for  it.  Clothed  Avith  the  unrestricted  power  of 
choosing  his  own  agents,  he  has  a  strong  personal  interest  in  hav- 
ing good  ones,  and  consequently,  though  his  selection  must  be 
confined  to  his  own  party,  within  that  limit  he  will  be  likely  to 
scan  the  qualifications  of  candidates  with  some  degree  of  keen- 
ness. In  New  York,  on  the  contrary,  though  the  inspectors  direct 
the  administration,  they  are  not  its  immediate  agents,  and  so  not 
responsible  for  it.  Though  invested  with  an  unlimited  power  of 
appointment,  they  have  no  personal  interest  in  the  character  of 
the  officers  whom  they  are  charged  with  selecting.  It  is  not  to  bo 
supposed,  therefore,  that  they  will  scrutinize  very  closely  the  qual- 
ifications of  their  appointees,  but  will  look  rather  to  the  political 
services  rendered  by  them  during  the  canvass. 

And  such,  in  effect,  is  the  operation  of  the  system.  It  is  in  evi- 
dence, in  the  sworn  testimony  of  numerous  witnesses  taken  by  a 
commission  of  the  Prison  Association,  in  1866,  that,  in  appointing 
persons  to  office  in  our  state  pris.^ns,  very  little  attention  is  given 
to  the  qualifications  of  the  candidates.  Appointments  are  made 
almost  wholly  on  political  considerations,  and  sometimes  without 
the  inspectors  having  even  so  much  as  seen  the  applicant. 

This  state  of  things  operates  two  Avays  to  lower  the  standard  of 
official  qualification  in  our  state  prisons; — first,   by  inviting  a 


turinff 


UNITED  STATES  AND  CANADA. 


127 


crowd  of  inferior  men — often  mere  loafers,  idlers,  or  blatant  poli^ 
ticians — to  these  places;  and,  secondly,  by  repelling  men  of  char- 
acter and  competency  from  seeking  or  even  accepting  them,  partly 
because  of  the  inadequate  compensation  given  for  the  service,  but 
still  more  because  of  the  uncertain  tenure  by  which  the  positions 
arc  held. 

Here,  indeed,  is  the  radical  defect  of  the  prison  systems  in  most 
of  the  states  of  the  American  Union;  it  lies  in  political  appoint- 
ments and  the  inevitably  resulting  consequence,  brevity  and  uncer- 
tainty in  the  tenure  of  official  position  in  our  state  penitentiaries. 
When  the  political  complexion  of  the  governing  authority  of  the 
prisons  is  changed  by  the  transfer  of  power  from  one  party  to 
another,  there  is,  for  the  most  part,  a  general  change  in  the  per- 
sonnel of  the  various  prison  staffs.  The  incumbents  belonging  to 
tht  defeated  party  must  give  place  to  the  iiungvy  swarm  of  office 
seekers  of  the  victorious  phalanx,  most  of  whom  have  little  to 
recommend  them,  as  the  major  part  of  their  predecessors  had  not 
when  they  belonged  to  the  conquering  host,  except  certain  party 
services,  often  of  the  lowest  and  most  disreputable  character.  If 
this  condition  of  things  cannot  be  changed,  if  the  management  of 
our  prisons  cannot  be  lifted  out  of  the  control  of  party  politics,  if 
a  character  of  permanency  cannot  in  some  way  be  imparted  to 
their  administration,  so  that  bad  officers  only  shall  be  sifted  out 
and  good  officers  shall  be  retained  during  good  behavior,  then 
farewell  to  all  hope  of  improvement,  or  at  least  to  all  expectation 
of  thorough,  radical,  enduring  prison  reforms.  The  best  prison 
system  that  human  sagacity  has  devised,  or  is  competent  to  devise, 
can  never  succeed,  can  never  work  out  its  normal  results,  under 
the  everlasting  fluctuations  entailed  by  making  our  prisons  a  part 
of  the  political  machinery  of  the  state,  and  the  everlasting  official 
incompetency  necessarily  growing  out  of  such  a  policy. 

Men  never  condnct  their  private  business  on  any  such  principles. 
How  is  it  with  our  railroad,  banking,  insurance,  express,  manufac- 
turing and  steamship  companies?  Do  they  change  all  their  em- 
ployees, from  the  president  to  the  porter,  with  every  turn  in  the 
political  wheel,  dismissing  all  who  belong  to  one  party,  and  calling 
in  an  entirely  new  set  belonging  to  the  other?  How  long  could 
the  richest  of  them  escape  bankruptcy  and  ruin  under  such  a  sys- 
tenk  of  management?  And  can  that  be  wisdom  in  the  management 
of  a  prison — Sing  Sing,  Auburn,  Clinton,  or  any  other — which 


128 


PRISONS  AND  REFORMATORIES   OF  THE 


wouUl  be  madness  in  the  manuf^oment  of  the  Central  railroad, 
Adams'  express,  (»r  the  Bank  of  New  York?     Impossible  I 

What,  then,  is  the  remedy?  One  word  will  express  it — com- 
mon sense !  Restore  the  reign  of  that  exiled  bnt  most  wise  and 
safe  comisellor,  antl  the  Avork  will  soon  be  done.  Bnt  a  special 
suggestion  or  two  may  not  be  ont  of  place  here. 

Let  party  i)olitics  be  discarded  ntterly  from  the  management  of 
onr  prisons.     It  touches  bnt  to  mar  their  administration. 

Let  fitness  alone  l)o  considered  in  appointments  to  office.  An 
erroneous  i«lea  seems  to  prevail  as  to  what  an  office  is.  It  is  not 
a  reward  for  political  service,  an  honor  due  to  active  devotion  to 
a  political  party.  An  oflice  is  a  position  of  toil  and  duty.  It  has 
the  same  relation  to  the  public  service,  that  a  business  post  has  in 
a  commercial  house.  No  one  has  any  claim  to  it,  unless  he  is  fitted 
for  it;  and  surely  no  one  should  be  appointed  to  it,  unless  he  is 
fitted. 

Let  suitable  and  effective  tests  be  applied  to  ascertain  the 
qualicatJons  of  applicants  for  office,  prior  to  their  appointment. 
No  applicimt  should  be  employed  at  first  otherwise  than  on  pro- 
bation; and  his  probation  should  cover  a  term  of  at  least  six 
months.  A  daily  record  should  be  kept,  as  is  done  in  the 
Englifch  prisons,  of  the  manner  in  which  he  discharges  his  duties; 
and  his  formal  appointment  should  be  made  to  depend  on  the 
result  of  this  trial.  Then  only  should  he  become  an  officer, 
when  he  ceases  to  lie  a  probationer. 

Let  the  teiuire  of  all  offices  be  made  permanent,  that  is,  during 
good  behavior,  so  that  there  shall  be  no  removals,  except  for 
cause.  Both  appointments  and  removals  are  now  made  on  party 
considerations  chiefly,  if  not  solely.  Men  are  inconsiderately 
placed  in  office  without  reference  to  their  fitness;  aid  they  arc 
remorselessly  removed  from  it  as  soon  as  they  have  learned  their 
duties.  Can  it  be  expected  that  we  should  have  effective  service 
on  such  conditions?  Can  it  be  expected  that  men  will  do  their 
duty  intelligently,  promptly,  efficiently,  and  honestly,  ^ho  know 
fliat,  despite  their  utmost  diligence  and  fidelity,  next  vcek,  or 
next  month,  or  next  year,  their  places  will  be  taken  from  them, 
and  given  to  others?  Would  mercantile  houses,  would  the 
directors  of  banking  and  insurance  companies,  be  willing  to 
employ  their  agents  and  clerks  on  this  plan?  To  ask  such  a 
question  is  to  answer  it.  We  complain  of  the  inefficiency  and 
corruption  of  our  prison  officials;  yet  we  could  not  devise  a 


grade 


I 


UNITED  STATES  AND  CANADA. 


129 


schomo  of  ndininistrntion  hotter  adnptod  to  produce  these  evilw 
than  the  one  actually  employed.  Would  not  men  ho  almost  more 
than  human  who,  under  such  circumstances,  would  do  thch*  duty 
faithfully  and  effectively? 

Let  the  appointment  of  all  suhordinate  officers,  char/];ed  with 
police  duties,  ho  placed  absolutely  in  the  hands  of  the  head. 
This  officer  is  responsible  for  the  administration,  and  should  be 
held  strictly  to  that  responsibility.  Such  being  the  case,  it  is  but 
reasonable  that  he  should  have  the  unrestricted  selection  of  his 
agents. 

Let  none  but  persons  in  the  prime  of  life  (say  within  the  limit 
of  forty  years)  be  appointed  as  prison  officers,  except  it  be  in  ex- 
traordiniuy  cases  and  for  special  reasons,  and  then  the  reasons  of 
the  appointment  should  be  made  matter  of  formal  record.  Two 
advantages  would  result  from  the  adoption  of  this  rule.  First, 
the  full  vigor  of  the  officer,  and,  secondly,  all  the  benefits  of  his 
long  expei'ience,  would  be  enjoyed  by  the  institution  with  which 
ho  might  be  connected. 

Let  there  '»<!  a  gradation  of  rank  in  the  offices,  and  a  graduation 
of  salary  corresponding  thereto.  All  incumbents  should  com- 
mence at  the  bottom  of  the  scale,  and  promotion  should  follow 
merit. 

Let  adequate  salaries  be  paid  for  the  service  required.  It  is 
thus  only  that  Ave  can  hope  to  secure  capacity,  integrity,  fidelity, 
and  experience.  It  is  thus  only  that  temptation  to  increase  the  sti- 
pend by  fraud  or  the  acceptance  of  bribes  can  be  effectually  re- 
moved. A  just  and  even  lil)eral  compensation  will  be  found  in 
the  end  the  best  economy. 

Let  some  provision  be  made  for  the  superannuated  and  the  dis- 
abled. Officers  who  have  faithfully  and  honorably  expended  their 
energies  and  worn  out  their  strength  in  this  hard  and  self-denying 
service,  when  they  become  incapable  of  ^'urther  duty  by  reason  of 
advancing  years  or  some  calamitous  visitation  of  Providence, 
should  receive  a  moderate  pension,  that  they  may  not  be  left  ut- 
terly' destitute  and  forlorn  in  their  old  age  or  other  disability, 
but  may  have  at  least  a  little  to  support  and  solace  their  waning  life. 

The  merit  of  some  such  s^'stem  as  that  here  recommended,  con- 
sists, unless  we  are  mistaken,  1.  In  the  supreme  regard  paid  to 
fitness  in  the  appointment  of  prison  officers,  whereby  a  far  higher 
grade  of  qualification  would  assuredly  be  obtained  for  this  de- 
partment of  the  public    service.      2.  In  the  perpetuity  of  the 

[Assem.  No.  35.J  9 


180 


PRISONS  AND   REFORMATORIES  OF  THE 


tenure  of  ofHcc,  l>y  virtue  of  whieh  tlio  Htiitu  m'ouUI  profit  hy  the 
over  aceutniiliitiii);  Hkill  iiihI  experience  of  it;*  Hciviintti.  .H.  In  it»i 
syisteni  of  proniotione*,  Ity  which  llto  niont  eonipetent  and  faithful 
men  would  he  secured  for  the  higher  and  more  rcsponsilile  grades 
of  service.  4.  In  thin,  that,  an  u  general  r(de,  it  would  take  only 
young  men  into  service,  and  no  would  secure  the  benefit  of  their 
devotion  during  the  best  3'ears  of  their  life,  as  well  as  the  ripe 
fruits  of  an  experience  gained  through  a  long  career  of  public 
service.  5.  In  the  further  advantage,  that  it  would  guaranty  to 
them  a  constantly  iiKreasing  livelihood,  as  the  fruit  of  their  dili- 
gence and  fidelity,  the  reward  of  a  meritorious  devotion  to  duly. 
And  1).  In  the  constant  and  strong  inducement  held  out  to  the  in- 
cumbent to  do  his  duty  faithfully,  in  the  moderate  provision  to  be 
made  for  him  andd  the  infirmities  of  age  or  under  the  visitation 
of  some  unexpected  calamity. 

As  regards  the  mode  of  appointing  the  officers  in  the  prisons  of 
the  ditfe rent  states,  or,  more  accurately  perhaps,  the  authoiities by 
whonj  they  are  appointed,  the  usage  varies  considerably.  In  Ken- 
tucky, New  Hampshire,  and  Vermont,  the  warden  is  appointed  by 
the  Legislature;  in  Maine,  Massachusetts,  Michigan,  and  Missouri, 
by  the  Governor;  in  Pennsylvania  and  Rhode  Island  by  the  in- 
spectors. In  the  above  named  states,  the  chaplain,  clerk,  and 
physician  are  variously  appointed  by  the  Governor,  inspectors  or 
warden;  and  in  all  of  them,  the  other  subordinate  officers — keep- 
ers, overseers,  guards,  «fec. — are  ajjpointed  by  the  warden,  cither 
absolutely  or  subject  to  the  apjjroval  of  the  several  boards  of  in- 
spectors or  directors, — generally  the  latter.  In  Wisconsin,  the 
commissioner  (warden),  as  before  stated,  is  chosen  by  the  direct 
vote  of  the  people;  and  he  has  unlimited  power  over  the  appoint- 
ment of  all  other  officers.  In  Ohio,  the  clerk  is  appointed  hy  the 
Governor,  by  and  with  the  consent  of  the  Senate;  all  the  other 
officers  by  the  board  of  directors.  This  is  almost  as  bad  as  in 
New  York,  where  evciy  officer  in  the  state  prison,  without  excep- 
tion, receives  his  appointment  from  the  board  of  inspectors.  We 
have  already  stated  our  opposition  to  this  mode  of  appointing  the 
under  officers,  Avith  the  reasons  on  Avhich  it  is  grounded.  It 
would  but  encund)er  these  pages  to  repeat  the  arguments  on  that 
head. 

In  all  the  prisons  visited,  the  rules  and  regulations  require,  on 
the  part  of  the  officers,  an  abstinence  from  intoxicating  liquors  and 
from  the   use  of  profane  language.     In  some   prisons,  this  rule 


UNITED  STATES  AND  CANADA. 


181 


neoms  to  be  woll  cnforcotl ;  in  timt  of  MiwsiuiliiwcttM,  fcr  ^  ^  impte, 
tho  siiirll  of  li(|iior  (ni  tin  olKcfr'H  ln'oiUh  is  u  HnfKciicnl  c;  io  for 
dismissal.  In  reference  to  one  pri.son,  the  statement  i«  jninle  (Imt 
"  the  retjiiirenient  (jU)8tinenc'e  from  li(|iior  und  profanity)  in  not  at 
present  rnneh  regarded. "  There  is  n^won  to  fear  that  what  is 
confessed  of  one  is  trno  of  many  more.  Wc  wore  intormed  by  a 
person  who  kept  a  larjje  l)oardinj;  h()UH<>  for  prison  otKoers,  that 
of  more  than  twenty  inmates  there  was  but  one  who  ditl  not  swear, 
•ramlde,  (binU  to  intoxication,  and  commit  otiier  improprieties 
Itolh  of  act  and  Ian};na<;e.  It  jjives  lis  no  pU'asnre  to  n»ake  state- 
ments of  tins  kind  ;  bnt  onr  <hity  is  to  offer,  as  far  as  wo  may  bo 
able,  an  honest  and  trne  pietnre  of  American  prisons. 

As  rejjjards  inspection  of  the  prisons,  Ave  have  before  stated  that 
tiic  principal  fnnction  of  the  several  boards  of  inspectors  and  di- 
rectors is  one  of  control,  direction,  govermnent,  rather  than  of  in- 
'spcction,  pi'operly  so  called.     In  some  of  the  states,  the  governor 
is  lecpiired  b}-  law  to  visit  and  inspect  the  state  prisons  at  least 
once  a  year  ;  and  even  in  states  where  no  law  makes  it  obligatory, 
it  is  <(uit<!  cnstomary  for  the  executive,  under  the  promptings  of 
his  own  sense  of  duty  or  feeling  of  humanity,  to  i)erform  the  same 
labor.     In  nearly  all  the   states,  it  is   also  the   usage  either  for  a 
joint  committee  of  the  two  houses  constituting  the  Legislature,  or 
for  a  sej)aratt>  committee  of  each   house,  diu'ing  their  amnial  ses- 
sion, to  examine  the  prison  or  prisons  of  their   respective  states. 
In  some  states — Wisconsin,  for  example — this   work  seems  to  be 
(|nile  thoroughly  done,  and  the  reports  submitted  t«  the  Legisla- 
tures often  contain  valuable  suggestions  and  recommendations, 
But  it  appears  to  be  more  frequently  the  case,  that  the  examina- 
tions made  by  legislative  committees  are  of  a  rather  perfunctory 
character,  and  either  no  reports  are  made,  or  those  that  are,  con- 
tain little  that  is  of  much  interest  or  value.     There  are  but  tuo 
states,  Miissachusetts  and  New  York,  where  there  is  anything  like 
an  ctKcicnt  inspection  of  all  the   prisons  in  the  state,  and  full  re- 
ports made  of  their  results,  with  suggestions  of  moditicatio?!^  and 
improvenjcnts  required  in  their  respective  prison  systeras.     In 
Massachusetts,  this  is  done  by  the  board  of  state  charities  ;  in  New 
York,  by  the  prison  association.     It  is  much  to  l)e  desired  that  in 
these  and  all  the  other  states,  a  more  ett'ectivo  system  of  inspec- 
tion should  be  established  through  the  institution  of  central  boards 
or  bureaus,  clothed  with  higher  powers  than   those  possessed  by 
either  of  the  bodies  named,  or  even  by  the  board  of  inspectors  of 


132 


PRISONS  AND  REFORMATORIES  OF  THE 


Canada,  which  last  might,  nevertheless,  serve  as  the  general  model 
for  such  organizations.  In  all  the  prisons,  we  believe,  the  deputy 
warden  is  the  officer  charged  with  the  daily  inspection  thereof. 
In  concluding  this  section,  we  recur  to  a  topic  alread^^  considered  in 
it  at  some  length, — politics  as  an  element  in  the  government  of 
American  prisons, — for  the  purpose  of  introducing  an  instructive 
extract  from  the  excellent  paper  furnished  by  Mr.  P.  T.  Miller, 
late  warden  of  the  Missouri  state  penitentiary,  of  whose  merits  as  a 
prison  officer,  we  have  already,  more  than  once  had  occasion  to  speak. 
In  his  response  to  our  interrogatories  on  state  prisons,  Mr.  Miller 
uses  this  language  :  "  Party  politics  controls  absolutely  the  ap- 
pointment of  officers  in  this  prison  ;  and  to  this  cause  is  to  l)e  attri- 
buted the  total  neglect  of  the  great  question  of  prison  reform,  and 
the  slow  progress  made  by  earnest  christians  and  philanthropists 
in  awakening  a  proper  interest  in  the  subject.  The  very  fact  that 
prison  officers  expect  to  relinquish  their  positions  on  every  change 
of  administration  begets  indiiference  and  inattention;  and  they  are 
usually  contented  to  drag  along  in  the  mere  mechanical  discharge 
of  their  duties,  looking  no  farther  than  the  expiration  of  their 
term  of  office;  leaving  whoever  may  succeed  as  head  to  shape  a 
policy  of  his  own.  Under  such  a  state  of  facts,  patent  to  every 
observing  eye,  how  can  we  hope  for  any  permanent  fruits  from 
the  labors  of  the  wise  and  good  men,  whose  hearts  are  in  their 
woik?  Hitherto,  arguments,  which,  it  would  seem,  should  have 
forced  conviction  on  the  most  unwilling  minds,  have  produced  ab- 
solutely no  effect;  and  the  commonest  rules  of  prudence,  which 
are  applied  to  all  the  affairs  of  life  and  business,  have,  in  this 
regard,  been  intentionally  ignored,  or  willfully  violated.  If  legis- 
lators desire  to  know  the  cost  and  practicability  of  some  great 
public  improvement,  they  are  careful  to  consult  the  skilled  engi- 
neer, and  not  the  common  laborer,  who  is  skillful  only  hi  the  use 
of  the  spade  and  pick.  If  an  exploring  expedition  is  to  l)o  sent 
out,  they  select  a  practical  seaman,  and  not  a  railroad  conductor, 
to  direct  it.  Or,  if  precautions  are  to  be  taken  against  the  ap- 
proach of  a  death-fraught  epidemic,  they  consult  a  board  of  phy- 
sicians, lid  not  of  lawj'crs.  How  careful  are  men,  in  their  private 
atJairs,  to  adopt  the  same  prudent  course  in  the  selection  of  agents, 
and  to  look  at  the  peculiar  fitness  of  the  man  for  the  position  he 
is  to  fill,  regardless  of  his  knowledge  or  opinions  on  other  mat- 
ters. The  commonest  experience  of  everj'-day  life  declares  to  all 
men  that  a  great  lawyer  is  not,  for  that  reason,  a  skillful  financier, 


UNITED  STATES  AND  CANADA. 


133 


and  that  successful  bankers  are  not  necessarily  successful  mer- 
chants.    The  truth  certainly  should  be  confessed,  it  is  confessed 
theoretically,  and  practically,  too,  in  all  things  else,  that  men  be- 
come great,  distinguished,  useful  and  efficient  in  that  one  thing  to 
which  they  devote  years  of  study  and  practice.     Is  it  not  equally 
true  that  the  proper  qualifications  for  prison  disciplinarians  are 
not  mere  natural  gifts,  but  are  acquired  in  the  school  of  experi- 
ence, where  all  things  valuable  are  learned?    Nor  is  the  frequent 
change  of  officers  and  systems  less  demoralizing  to  the  officials 
thcinselves,  than  injurious  to  the  convicts  whom  they  may  have 
under  their  care.     While  one  warden  imposes  a  certain  rule  of 
action,  during  his  term  of  office,  for  the  government  of  the  pris- 
oners, he  is  succeeded  by  another,  who  sees  nothing  good  or  val- 
uable in  the  policy  of  his  predecessor.     A  third  follows  him,  with 
plans  and  purposes  differing  from  both;  and  the  result  of  all  is, 
that  the  convict  concludes  there  is  no  settled  policy  in  regavd  to 
him.    The  wholesome  lessons,  taught  him  by  one  master,  are  dis- 
sipated and  their  effisct  destroyed  by  the  rashness  or  folly  of 
another.     Take  a  number  of  children,  employ  one  teacher  one 
mouth,  another  the  next,  and  so  on  through  the  succeeding  months 
of  the  year,  each  having  a  system  of  teaching,  differing  from  his 
predecessor,  and  what  progress  will  they  make?     Will  they  not 
rather  retrograde  than  advance,  and,  from  the  confusion  of  sys- 
tems adopted,  fail  utterly  to  get  any  correct  impression  of  their 
aim?    The  same  reasoning  will  apply,  with  equal  force,  to  prison 
administration.     Unless  something  can  be  done  to  arouse  public 
attention  to  the  matter,  and,  through  the  interest  thus  awakened, 
the  control  of  our  penal  institutions  can  be  snatched  from  the  pos- 
session of  unscrupulous  partisans,  the  whole  system  will  continue 
to  grow  worse  and  worse,  until  it  becomes  a  disgusting  spectacle 
to  reflecting  and  patriotic  men,  and  our  prisons,  instead  of  correct- 
ing evils  and  diminishing  crime  in  the  land,  will  be  but  colleges 
of  wickedness,  where  men  will  be  educated  and  graduated  in  every 
species  of  villainy." 


184 


PRISONS  AND  HEFOHMATOIUES   OF  TUB 


I 


SECTION  FIFTH. 

I)is(;ii'LiNK.  <; 

With  covfaiii  inodiHcatioiiis  on  minor  [)oiiil.s,  tlio  ni!  's  and  rc^ij- 
laliouH  iolatin<>;  to  thv  (loporhncnt  of  convictH  arc  substantially 
tlu>  saino  in  all  .he  pri.sonH  on  tlu^  con<::r<'<j^at('  plan,  that  i.s,  in  all 
tho  prisons  of  1  he  United  JStatcH,  ontsid(M)f  JVinisylvania.  The 
rnlos  for  prisoners  in  prisons  conducted  on  the  Philadelphia  system 
Avill,  of  course,  ditfer  ntaterially  from  those  constituted  on  the 
Auburn  plan.  'IMie  simplicity  of  the  separate  system  will  natu- 
rally impress  itstdf  U[)on  the  rej^ulations  made  for  the^  jiovern- 
mcnt  of  its  subjects.  Comparatively  few  breaches  of  order  are 
possible  in  al)solute  solitude.  The  isolation  of  the  i)risoner  s(!- 
cures,  to  a  great  dcijree,  the  observance  of  the  few  and  simple 
rules  that  ar<>  necessary  under  that  .system.  J^ach  cell  is  a  prison 
in  itsidf,  and  the  convict  detained  in  it  canPiot  remler  himself 
guilty  of  otl'ences,  which  can  be  connnitted  only  in  company  with 
others.  The  organizations  of  prisons  on  the  Auburn  or  congre- 
gate plan  is  far  more  complicated,  and  involves  the  necessity  of  a 
greater  nund)er  of  rules  of  order.  The  general  duty  of  prisoners 
in  all  i)rison8  of  this  class  is  to  work  diligently,  to  obey  all  orders, 
and  to  preserve  unbroken  sih'iice,  as  well  during  the  labors  of  the 
da\',  as  in  their  solitary  ccdls  at  night;  although  in  some  prisons, 
there  is  a  relaxation  of  this  last  rule,  in  that  part  of  it  which  rc- 
(piires  absolute  silence  during  the  hours  of  work.  Hut  we  will 
here  offer  to  the  reader  an  outline  of  the  regulations  of  a  few  of 
the  leading  prisons,  as  far  as  the  same  relates  to  the  duties  and 
conduct  of  the  convicts. 

In  the  Massachusetts  state  prison,  convicts  are  reipn'red  to  show 
respect  to  the  olficers,  to  be  diligent  at  their  Avork,  to  obey  all 
orders  promptly,  and  to  be  sid, missive  to  all  the  rules  and  regu- 
lations of  the  j)rison.  In  speaking  to  an  otficer,  they  must  salute 
him  by  raising  the  hand  to  the  forehead,  ''"..e}'  nuist  not  I'xhibit 
ill  teujper  when  reproved,  nor  hold  unnecessary  conversation  with 
an  oiticer,  nor  have  any  tratfic  or  collusive  proceedings  with  him. 
The}'  must  not  speak  or  write  to  other  convicts,  nor  look  at,  speak 
to,  or  answer  any  ijuestions  of.  visitors,  except  by  pei-mission  of 
the   warden.     They  cannot  have  any  writing  materials  without 


UNITED  STATES   AND  CANADA. 


185 


povmission,  nor  curry  food  into  the  yard  or  shops,  nor  make  any 
alteration  whatever  in  their  clothing.  They  arc  reqnired  to  bo 
prompt  in  takinjj  their  places  in  the  division  at  l)cll-ringin<^,  to 
march  (he  lock  step,  at  a  rather  brisk  pace,  with  the  head  a  little  in- 
clined towards  the  otiicer,  body  erect,  and  hands  hanging  by  the; 
side;  to  take  the  tirst  dish  the  hand  is  put  upon,  in  passing  the  tables 
at  meals;  and  to  be  careful  not  to  spill  or  drop  any  food  Avhilo  in  the 
prison.  On  (Mitering  tlu^  cell,  they  are  to  place  the  food  on  the 
table;  to  return  ami  stand  just  Avithin  the  door,  Avith  the  face  to 
the  opening;  to  close  the  door  gently,  thrust  the  hand  through 
the  opening  in  the  bars,  and  keep  it  in  that  position  till  the  officer 
rcturjis;  to  draw  the  hand  iji  as  soon  as  the  officer  has  passed  the 
door;  and  to  thrust  it  out  again,  in  the  same  manner,  if  an  extra 
count  is  ordered.  They  sire  rerpiircd  to  be  cleanly  in  person, 
clothing,  and  cell;  to  spit  nowhere  but  in  the  spittoon;  not  to 
mark  or  in  any  Avay  mar  or  disfigure  their  cells,  or  injure  or 
misuse  any  book  or  utensil  allowed  them  therein;  not  to  Avork  in 
Ihe  cell,  or  bring  in  or  carry  out  any  article  contrary  to  regula- 
tions; to  keep  bed  and  l>edding  in  good  order;  never  to  rap  on 
the  cell  door,  except  in  case  of  sickness  or  other  imperious  ne- 
cessity; and  to  pass  nothing  from  one  to  another  but  by  permis- 
sion. The}'  are  required,  at  the  ringing  of  the  first  bell  in  the 
morning,  to  turn  out,  dress,  make  the  bed,  fasten  up  the  same, 
and  have  the  bucket,  dishes,  and  coffee  pot  ready  for  marching 
out;  to  open  the  door,  gently,  to  the  Avail,  step  outside,  and  march 
at  the  word  of  conuuand;  to  hold  the  dishes  in  the  right  han<l, 
Avith  the  coffee  pot  in  one  of  the  smaller  dishes, — the  whole  ele- 
vated so  as  to  be  distinctly  open  to  the  vicAV  of  the  inspecting 
officer;  and  to  place  the  dishes  on  the  table,  on  passing  through 
the  i)assage.  Each  convict,  in  marching  into  the  chai)el,  is  to 
tidv(>  the  seat  assigned  to  him,  and,  Avhile  there,  to  give  his  entire 
attention  to  the  services;  to  suppress,  as  far  as  possible,  all  dispo- 
sition to  cough,  and  to  abstain  from  shuttling  Avith  the  feet,  spitting 
on  the  floor,  and  all  movements  of  the  body  calculated  to  disturJ) 
the  order  and  (juict  of  the  place.  If  two  or  more  convicts  are 
passing  about  the  yard  at  the  same  time  and  in  the  same  direc- 
tion, they  must  Avalk  in  single  file,  never  abreast;  nor  nuist  any 
convict  ever  loiter  in  the  j-ard  Avitliout  permission.  If  convicts  are. 
uuAvcll,  they  nmst  report  to  the  officer  of  their  department,  imme- 
diately on  entering  the  shop  in  the  morning;  if  sent  to  the  hospi- 
tal, they  must  proceed  directly  thither;  and  if  ordered  to  tho 


tm 


ifi  I 


136 


PRISONS  AND  REFORMATORIES  OF  THE 


yard  for  exercise  and  air,  they  must  confine  themselves  to  the 
limits  designated  for  the  purpose.  When  a  convict  wishes  to 
speak  to  the  warden,  or  have  an  interview  with  the  chnphiin,  he 
must  first  obtain  leave  from  his  officer;  and  in  case  he  desires  to 
speak  t')  the  inspectors  or  either  of  them,  he  must  ask  and 
obtain  permission  from  the  warden. 

The  following  is  the  daily  routine  at  this  prison:  The  convicts 
are  mustered  out  of  their  rooms  in  the  morniug,  at  hours  varying 
with  the  scjison  of  the  year,  but,  as  a  genciiu  rule,  as  soon  as  it  is 
broad  daylight;   earlier  than  this  is    nof    Ci  csidered   safe.     On 
reaching  their  respective  shops,  the  fir,     biisiness  in  to  have  a 
thorough  wash,  after  Avhich,  in  summer,  they  engage  in  work  for 
abcut  an  liour.     After  this  scjuson  of  work,   or,   in  winter,  im- 
mediately utter  washing,  they  return  to  t'leir  cells  with  their 
breakfast.     As  soon  as  this  is  disijatched,  t.'iey  attend  prayers  in 
the  chapel,  and  then  return  to  their  workshops  to  labor.     They 
remain  theie   in  associated  labor,   but  in  strict  silence,   except 
when  pennitted  by  their  officer  to  make  such  inipiiries  or  remarks 
as  tlieir  work  may  require,  until  12  m.     Then  they  wjish,  and  go 
with  their  dinners  to  their  cells,  for  which  they  are  allowed  ojie 
hour;  at  the  expiration  of  vhich,  they  return  to  the  workshojjs 
and  continue  theii*  labor  till  six  o'clock  in  summer,  and,  when  the 
days  become  shorter,  until  just  before  the  sunlight  begins  to  iail, 
With  their  suppers,  they  then  return  to  their  cells  for  the  night. 
On  their  way  thither,  they  pass  a  certain  point,  wliere  the  warden 
or  deputy  warden  and  the  overseers  of  the  Avorkshops  take  their 
stand.     Such  of  the  men  as  have  committed  any  offence  during 
the  day  are  ordered  to  remrin  at  this  point,  Avhilc  the  others  file 
off  to  their  cells.     The  offence  of  each  is  stated  by  his  overseer 
to  the  Avarden  or  deputy,  who  examines  the  ease,  and,  in  his  dis- 
cretion, either  reprimands  the  offender,  or  sends  him  into  punish- 
ment,   which   consists   in   the   deprivation  of  supper   and   bed, 
instead  of  which  latter  he  has  only  a  board  and  blanket.     On 
Sunday  morning,  those  of  the  convicts  who  wish  to  take  part  in 
the  exercises  of  a  Sunday  school,  assemble  in  the  chapel  for  that 
purpose  an  hour  before  divine  service.     Attendance  upon  this 
exercise  is  voluntary,  and  (unfortunately,  we  think,  in  a  prison 
where  there  is  so  much  that  is  excellent  in  many  respects)  this  is 
the  only  stated  teaching  of  any  kind  Avhich  is  given  in  the  insti- 
tution.    Divine  service  follows  immediately  on  the  close  of  the 


UNITED  STATES  ANB   CANADA. 


187 


Sunday  school,  after  which  the  prisoners  return  tc  their  cells  for 
the  duy. 

During  their  visit  to  this  prison,  the  undersigned  were  present 
at  Sunday  school  and  the  Sabl)ath  morning  service,  and  were 
deeply  interested  in  l)oth.  In  the  former,  the  convicts  gave 
oiirnest  heed  to  the  instructions  imparted,  and  showed  nuich  in- 
telligence as  well  as  promptness,  in  their  answers  to  the  questions 
put  to  them;  and  in  the  latter,  we  listened  to  a  highly  practical 
and  appropriate  discourse  on  the  prevalence  and  danger  of  dis- 
belief in  religion  from  the  worthy  chaplain.  Rev.  Mr.  Carleton, 
delivered  with  much  unction,  and  heard  with  profound  attention 
by  his  convict  congregation. 

In  the  Ohio  state  prison,  the  duties  required  of  the  convicts 
are,  in  substance,  as  follows:  To  labor  diligently,  obey  all  orders 
promptly,  and  observe  unbroken  silence:  not  to  comnninicate  with 
each  other  by  word,  look,  or  writing,  nor  make  use  of  any  signs, 
except  to  convey  their  wants  to  the  waiters:  to  approach  their 
keepers  in  a  respectful  manner,  to  address  them  only  when  it 
becomes  necessary  in  relation  to  their  work  or  wants,  and  then  to 
be  brief  in  their  communication:  not  to  speak,  witliout  leave,  to 
any  person  who  does  not  belong  to  the  institution,  nor  to  receive 
from  such  any  letter,  paper,  tobacco,  or  anything  Avluvtever:  not 
to  leave  the  place  where  they  are  put  to  work  or  the  work  they 
arc  set  to  do,  nor  to  suffer  their  attention  to  be  taken  from  their 
work  to  look  at  visitors,  or  even  permit  themselves  to  gaze  or 
look  at  tlieni  when  unemployed:  not  willfully  or  carelessly  to 
injure  their  work,  tools,  clothes,  bedding,  or  anything  belonging 
to  the  prison,  nor  to  mark,  injure,  or  in  any  way  deface  the  walls  or 
otiier  part  of  theii  cells:  not  to  execute  their  work  badly,  when 
they  have  the  ability  to  do  it  well:  not  to  receive  or  transmit  any 
letter  or  paper,  except  inuler  the  inspection  of  the  warden;  on 
entering  their  respective  cells,  each  to  draw  the  door  of  his  cell 
till  it  strikes  the  latch,  and  ir.  this  position  to  stand,  holding  his 
door,  until  the  turnkey  approaches  and  puts  in  the  key,  then  in- 
stantly to  close  it;  to  go  to  oed  immediat  ly  on  the  ringing  of  the 
bell  (they  may  go  before  if  they  choose),  and  observe  a  ])rofound 
silence  from  that  time  uul'il  the  sound  of  the  bugle  in  the  morn- 
ing, when  they  must  instantly  rise,  dress  themselves  and  prepare 
to  march  out;  to  march  in  irilitary  step  (lock-step);  not  to  sleep 
with  their  clothes  on;  and,  on  becoming  sick  or  from  any  cause 
rnable  to  work,  to  report  themselves  to  the  officer  under  whose 


138 


rniSONS  AND  R.  r  ORMATOniES  OP  THE 


mMm 


m 


charge  tlicy  nuvy  be.  for  leave  to  visit  the  lu)-ipitiil  unci  consult  tlio 
phj'.sician. 

The  following  arc  the  daily  routine  of  duties  and  the  regula- 
tions relating  to  the  prisoners  in  the  state  prison  of  Wisconsin: 

In  winter,  the  prisoners  rise  at  G  a.  m.,  and  without  previous 
labor,  breakfast  at  (U;  in  summer,  they  rise  at  h^,  and  breakfast 
at  0 J,  after  a  period  of  Avork.  Breakfast  is  fjcrved  in  the  cells  ])y 
the  assistants.  On  the  ringing  of  the  small  bell  in  the  morning, 
the  prisoners  rise,  dress,  put  up  their  bedstead,  bed  and  beddintr, 
and  wash  themselves.  On  the  ringing  of  tho  large  bell,  immedi- 
ately after  breakfast,  they  come  out  of  their  cells  and  jnarch  in 
single  file,  taking  the  lock  step,  to  their  usual  places  of  labor, 
where  they  remaiii  till  12  m.,  Avorking  diligently  and  in  silence. 
Then,  at  a  sigiiii),  they  quit  Avork.  Avash,  and  prepare  for  dinnc  \ 
At  a  second  si'rna],  lliej^  form  in  close  order  .is  before,  and,  cii^-- 
rying  their  dinner  with  them,  lujirch  to  their  cells,  AA'here  they  itie 
locked  up.  At  one  o'clock,  lifyrftnrn,  in  the  same  manner  av 
before,  to  their  Avork,  Avhich  they  continue  till  six,  Avhen  they 
quit  AVork  foi*  the  day.  Receiviii<^  i  heir  supper,  thej'  return  Avitli 
it  to  their  ccll-^,  Avhere  all  their  meals  iiro  taken.  They  are  for- 
bidden to  hold  any  communicalion  Avith  each  other  at  any  time, 
in  aiiv  manner,  or  by  any  means,  unless  the  most  urgent  necessity 
connected  Avitli  their  work  compels  them  to  do  so.  They  are  not 
to  speai-  to  any  person,  who  does  not  belong  to  the  institution, 
unless  permission  is  granted  by  the  commissioner  or  the  deputy, 
and  then  only  in  the  presence  of  one  or  other  of  these  oflScers,  or 
of  some  other  officer  detailed  for  the  purpose.  They  may  not 
leave  their  Avork  Avithout  special  permission  from  the  officer  in 
charge.  The^'  are  forbidden  to  sleep  AA'ith  their  clothes  on.  They 
are  required  to  approach  the  officers  in  the  most  respectful  manner; 
and  the  use  of  all  insulting,  profane  and  abusive  language  to  offi- 
cers, strangers,  or  each  other,  is  strictly  interdicted.  All  are 
recpiircd  to  attend  divine  service  in  the  chapel  at  least  once  every 
Sunday. 

The  following  is  a  brief  siunmary  of  what  is  required  of  convicts 
in  the  state  prisons  of  Ncav  York:  To  labor  diligently,  ob"y  all 
orders,  and  preserve  unbroken  silence;  to  march  to  and  from  their 
Avork  and  meals,  under  the  care  of  their  several  keepers,  in  single 
tile  and  close  order  (lock  step),  each  looking  over  the  left  shouldci' 
of  the  one  immediately  in  front  of  him  and  Avlth  his  right  hjmd 
resting  on  the  right  shoulder  of  the  same;  to  march  straight  and 


sive 
these 

T 
takin 
our 
the 
fast 
table 
pris(j 
two 
eater 

T 
the 
all 
the 
one 
We 


UNITED  STATES  AND   CANADA. 


139 


turn  square  corners;  in  chapel  to  sit  erect  and  with  arms  folded, 
and  the  same  in  the  mess  room,  except  while  eating;  in  meeting 
officers  and  visitors  in  the  yard,  to  give  way  in  all  cases,  and  to 
tip  the  cap  to  them;  to  do  no  fancy  work  and  make  no  trinkets; 
never  to  engage  in  traffic  Avith  fellow  prisoners,  officers,  or  any 
olltor  persons;  not  to  willfully  or  carelessly  injure  their  work, 
too!-',  clothes,  bedding,  or  anything  belonging  to  the  prison;  not 
to  ('xecnt(j  their  work  badly,  when  they  have  the  ability  to  do  it 
well;  not,  Jt  any  time  or  on  any  pretence,  to  speak  to  any  person 
who  doijh  uot  belong  to  the  institution,  nor  to  receive  from  them 
any  letter,  paper,  tobacco,  or  other  article  or  thing  whatsoever; 
and,  in  their  whole  demeanor,  to  act  in  a  respectful,  quiet,  and 
orderly  majuier,  and  in  strict  conformity  to  the  discipline  of  the 
prisoi!. 

Ti}e  foregoing  summary  of  the  rules  and  regulations,  governing 
iho  conductof  convicts,  in  the  prisons  of  four  of  the  leading  states 
of  the  Union,  and  those  in  widely  separated  localities,  from  the 
extreme  east,  to  what  until  lately  at  least  was  the  extreme  west, 
may  serve  as  a  specimen  of  the  whole.  They  confirm  the  remark 
with  which  we  started,  that,  with  some  minor  differences,  they 
are  everywhere,  in  substance  the  same.  Indeed,  if  we  should  give 
these  regulations  for  all  the  state  prisons,  it  would  be  seen  that 
they  are,  to  a  great  extent,  transcripts  the  one  from  the  other. 
Those  of  Massachusetts  and  New  York  are  the  ones  most  exten- 
sively followed.  In  some  instances,  the  rules  and  regulations  of 
these  states  are  almost  literally  copied. 

The  usage  varies  in  different  prisons  as  it  respects  the  place  of 
taking  the  meals.  We  do  not  intend  to  speak  with  exactness,  but 
our  impression  is  that  in  about  one-half  of  the  prisons  visited,  .ill 
the  meals  are  eaten  in  the  cells;  in  the  remaining  portion,  break- 
fast and  dinner  are  eaten  in  a  common  hall,  furnished  Avith  narroAv 
tables,  not  exceeding  twelve  to  fifteen  inches  in  width,  with  the 
prisoners  all  facing  one  way.  But  even  in  prisons  Avhere  the  first 
two  meals  are  taken  in  mess  rooms,  the  suppers  are  carried  to  and 
eaten  in  the  cells. 

The  mode  of  receiving  the  prisoners  and  initiating  them  into 
t!ie  mysteries  of  their  ucav  prison  life  is  substantially  the  same  in 
all  prisons  where  the  same  general  system  of  discipline,  that  is, 
the  separate  or  the  congregate,  is  maintained;  and  a  description  of 
one  is,  to'  all  intents  and  purposes,  a  description  of  the  whole. 
We  will,  therefore,  describe  the  modus  ojperandi  in  two  represen- 


140 


PRISONS  AND  REFORMATORIES  OF  THE 


tative  prisons,  one,  that  is,  of  each  class — Sing  Sing,  in  New  York, 
and  the  eastern  penitentiary,  in  Pennsylvania. 

When  a  convict  is  brought  to  the  Sing  Sing  prison,  various  in- 
terrogatories are  put  to  him  by  the  clerk,  and  the  answers  elicited 
are  recorded  in  a  book.  Any  papers,  money,  or  valuables  in  his 
possession  are  taken  from  him,  and  deposited  with  the  warden  for 
safe  keeping,  against  his  discharge.  He  is  then  given  into  the 
charge  of  the  keeper  of  the  hospital.  This  officer  takes  him  to 
the  dressing  room,  and  causes  him  to  be  denuded  of  all  his  clothes, 
thoroughly  washed  in  his  whole  person,  and  dressed  in  his  prison 
garb;  after  which  he  is  weighed  and  measured,  and  the  results 
fully  recorded.  He  is  next  conducted  to  the  hospital,  where  he  is 
carefully  examined  as  to  the  state  of  his  health  by  the  physician, 
and  the  facts  thus  ascertained,  together  with  a  full  description  of 
his  person,  are  entered  in  a  register  kept  for  the  purpose.  The 
prisoner  is  then  conveyed  to  the  cell  building,  where  he  is  given 
into  the  charge  of  the  hall  keeper,  who  instructs  him  in  the  rules 
to  be  observed  by  him  as  a  prisoner,  and  particularly  as  to  the 
duty  of  implicit  and  prompt  obedience,  after  which  he  assigns 
him  to  some  vacant  cell  till  such  time  as  he  can  be  permanently 
placed  among  the  gang,  or  members  of  the  shop,  with  whom  he 
may  be  required  to  work.  Either  on  that  or  the  following  day,  if 
able  bodied,  he  is  assigned  to  some  branch  of  prison  work,  and 
that  part  of  his  sentence  which  condemns  him  to  hard  labor  begins 
to  take  effect.  Convicts  in  feeble  health  at  the  time  of  their  recep- 
tion are  either  placed  in  the  hospital,  or  put  upon  some  light  work 
for  the  state;  they  are  never  assigned  to  contract  labor. 

When  a  prisoner  is  received  into  the  eastern  penitentiary,  at 
Philadelphia,  he  is  first  conducted  into  an  ante-room,  where  a 
minute  description  of  his  person  is  taken  by  the  warden,  and 
recorded  in  a  book  kept  for  the  purpose.  He  is  then  hooded, 
(i.  e.  a  mask  is  put  on  his  face,)  taken  to  the  bath  room,  thoroughly 
cleansed,  and  furnished  with  his  new  convict  suit;  after  which  he 
is  again  hooded  and  led  into  the  cell,  whose  four  walls  are  to  con- 
stitute the  limit  of  his  locomotion  during  his  prison  life,  and  from 
which  he  is  not  to  emerge  till  the  expiration  of  his  sentence. 

In  many  of  the  prisons  of  the  country,  perhaps  in  most,  the 
rules  and  regulations,  so  far  as  they  relate  to  convicts,  are  printed 
on  large  cards  and  hung  up  in  the  cells,  and  also,  not  unfrequently, 
on  the  walls  of  the  workshops.  In  addition  to  this,  or  as  a  sub- 
stitute for  it,  where  the  usage  just  referred  to  does  not  prevail,  it 


UNITED  STATES  AND  CANADA. 


141 


is  the  custom  in  many  of  the  prisons  to  furnish  each  prisoner  with 
a  printed  copy  of  the  rules.  In  nil  cases  where  prisoners  cannot 
read,  the  regulations  are  explained  to  them  on  entering. 

In  none  of  the  prisons  visited  by  the  undersigned  out  of  New 
York  and  within  the  limits  of  the  United  States,  except  Massachu- 
setts and  New  Hampshire,  is  it  either  prescribed  by  the  rules,  or 
the  settled  practice,  that  the  chaplains  converse  with  the  prison- 
ers on  their  entering  the  prison.  Even  in  the  prisons  named,  tliere 
is  no  rule  to  this  effect;  but  it  is  stated  to  be  the  uniform  practice 
of  the  chaplains  to  hold  a  conversation  with  each  convict  either 
before  ho  is  set  to  Avork,  or  as  soon  thereafter  as  possible.  In 
New  York  we  have  three  state  prisons.  The  chaplain  at  Sing 
Sins  is  not  in  the  habit  of  conversing  with  convicts  on  their  re- 
ception  into  the  prison,  and  assigns  as  a  reason  the  impossibility 
of  doing  so  on  account  of  the  number  coming  there.  The  Rev. 
Mr.  Canfield,  chaplain  of  Clinton  prison,  is  accustomed  to  hold  a 
special  interview  with  each  convict  as  soon  after  his  entrance  as 
possible.  One  object  of  these  interviews  is  to  make  the  prisoners 
acquainted  with  the  rules  and  regulations  of  the  prison,  more  par- 
ticularly those  relating  to  his  own  department,  that  they  may 
know  how  to  avail  themselves  of  the  privileges  of  the  library,  cor- 
respondence. Sabbath  school,  and  evening  lessons  in  their  cells. 
Another  is  to  learn  something  of  their  previous  history,  to  study 
their  character,  and,  on  the  knowledge  thus  gained,  to  found  such 
exhortations  as  may  seem  suited  to  each.  A  third  object  is  to  give 
them  the  assurance  that,  if  they  ever  desire  advice  or  assistance 
during  their  incarceration,  he  is  their  friend,  to  whom  they  may 
feel  free  to  come  at  any  time,  to  seek  the  counsel  or  aid,  of  which 
they  may  stand  in  need.  The  chaplain  of  Auburn  prison.  Rev. 
Mr.  Ives,  says  that  he  makes  it  a  point,  ivhenever  he  can,  to  con- 
verse with  convicts  when  they  first  come  into  the  prison;  that  he 
first  seeks  to  convince  them  that  it  will  be  to  their  advantage  to 
obey  all  prison  rules;  that  he  next  tries  to  impress  upon  them 
that  their  time  in  prison  need  not  be  wholly  lost,  but  may  be 
turned  to  account  in  making  both  intellectual  and  moral  improve- 
ment; and  that,  finally,  he  endeavors  to  encourage  them  with  the 
assurance  that,  though  disgraced,  they  are  not  utterly  lost,  that 
they  are  not  so  fallen  as  not  to  have  friends  to  hold  out  to  them  a 
helping  hand,  if  only  they  try  to  do  well,  and  especially  that 
Jesus  is  ready  to  forgive  and  save  the  vilest  sinners,  if,  like  the 
prodigal  son,  they  come  to  him  confessing  and  forsaking  their  sin. 


142 


PRISONS  AND  REFORMATORIES  OF  THE 


Both  from   our  porsoiml  obaorvations  and  from  reailing  the 
answers  to  our  questions,  wo  have  hcen  impressed  with  the  idea 
that,  when  the  criminal  first  enters  his  prison-house,  too  little  care 
and  pains,  as  u  general  thing,  are  ^akcn  to  give  his  mind  a  riglit 
direction.     Then,  if  ever,  it  seems  to  us  this  important  Avork  is  to 
be  done.     Ho  enters  disgraced,  disheartened,  disconsolate.     Here 
is  tlie  golden  opportunity  to  appeal  to  his  feelings,  his  judgtnent, 
his  sense  of  responsibility,  his  manhood.     He  may  uow  easily  be 
converted  into  a  demon,  if  ho  is  not  one  already,  by  abuse,  harsh- 
ness,  injustice,  unkindness  and  oppression.     But  if  on  the  other 
hand,  the  officers,  being  really  his  friends  as  well  as  his  keepers, 
tell  him  so  and  labor  to  nuike  him  sensible  of  this  fact,  if  they 
seek  to  convince  him  that  they  feel  for  him  in  his  situation,  sym- 
pathize with  him,  besire  his  well  being,  and  would  induce  him  to 
turn  that  into  a  blessing  which  he  looks  upon  as  the  greatest  of 
curses,  they  will  readily  win  his  contidence.     That  gained,  an  im- 
portant conquest  has  been  achieved.     It  will  then  become  com- 
paratively easy  to  inspire  iiim  with  a  determination  to  reform  his 
life  and  become  a  better  man.     Let  them,  from  the  first  moment 
he  enters  the  prison,  point  out  to  him  the  path  of  rectitude,  as 
well  by  example  as  by  precept.     Let  them  couvince  him  that  they 
feel  with  and  for  him.     Let  them  assure  him  that,  while  it  is  made 
their  duty,  as  the  officers  of  tlie  law,  to  keep  him  confined  in 
prison,  no  law  forbids  their  giving  him  their  sympathy  and  labor- 
ing for  his  good.     Let  them  show  him  that  they  do  sympathize 
with  him,  while  they  urg(r  upon  him  the  importance  of  cheerful- 
ness and  hope,  and  especially  of  forming  the  noble  resolution  that 
he  will  reform  his  life,  and  turn  from  the  error  and  folly  of  his 
ways.     Impressions  like  theae,  made  upon  the  convict  at  the  very 
begimiing  of  his  prison  life,  could  not  fail  to  exert  a  benign  and 
salutary  ett'ect;  they  would  be  a  long  step  towards  hi-  reformation. 
Due  effort,  we  are  convinced,  is  not  generally  made  in  this  di- 
rection.    More  is  done,  in  this  way,  in  the  Charlestown  prison 
than  in  any  other  that  came  within  the  range  of  our  observations. 
There,  Jis  we  learn  from  Mr.  Haynes'  paper  in  response  to  our 
interrogatories,  the  prisoners  arc  kept  from  one  to  twenty  days  in 
solitary  confinement,  before  they  are  put  to  labor.     Prior  to  their 
being  placed  at  work,  they  are  instructed  by  the  deputy  warden 
in  regard  to  the  rules.     Every  necessary  ex[)lanation  is  mildly, 
carefully,  n  \d  understandingly  made  to  them;  after  which,  they 
are  taken  to  the  work  shop,  and  commence  labor.     In  the  course 


UNITED  STATES  AND  CANADA. 


143 


of  a  diiy  or  two,  the  convict  is  sent  Tor  hy  the  AViirtleii,  who  hns  a 
full  and  friendly  talk  with  him.  He  imiuire.s  into  his  past  history, 
interrogates  him  as  to  his  parents,  home  and  family:  ounsels  him 
as  to  his  future  course^  assures  him  of  good  and  kind  ircatmentso 
long  as  he  shall  deserve  it;  and  endeavors  to  cheer  u\)  his  spirits 
and  inspire  him  with  coinage  and  hope.  This  interview  randy 
ends  without  hringing  tears  into  the  eyes  of  the  most  hardened, 
iuid  leading  to  the  formation  of  resolutions  which  have  a  strong 
influence  upon  their  future  lives.  The  chaplain  also  takes  an  early 
opportunity  of  conversing  with  prisoners  after  their  entrance,  in 
which  he  seeks  to  impress  on  their  minds  the  same  ideas,  with 
such  other  suggestions  as  ho  thinks  necessary. 

In  our  opinion,  it  would  be  well  to  place  it  tuiiong  the  stated 
duties  of  prison  chaplains  and  make  it  a  matter  of  tixed  regulation, 
that  they  should  hold  interviews  of  this  kind  with  prisoners  as 
early  as  possible  after  their  committal. 

In  Vermont,  convicts  are  kept  one  day  in  solitary  conlincment 
previously  to  being  put  to  Avork  ;  in  Massachusetts,  as  already 
stated,  from  one  to  twenty  days.  In  all  the  other  prisons  visited 
by  us,  those  who  are  able  to  labor  arc  set  to  work  at  once,  except 
in  Wisconsin  ;  and  tiie  same  rule  holds  there  also  ;  unless  the 
judge,  in  his  sentence,  makes  solitary  imprisonment  for  a  certain 
period  obligatory.  Whether  such  imprlsoiunent  is  often  made  a 
part  of  the  sentence,  and  if  so,  to  what  length  of  tinu  it  may  be 
made  to  extend,  wo  are  not  informed,  and  of  covnsc  caniot  inform 
our  readers. 

The  progress  of  prison  reform,  the  advance  of  sound  principles 
of  prison  discipline,  within  a  hundred  years,  and  especially  within 
the  last  half  of  that  period,  has  been  as  gratifying,  as  it  is  remark- 
able. The  horrors,  cruelties,  and  manifold  abominations  of  English 
and  continental  prisons,  prior  to  the  time  of  John  Howard,  are  al- 
most past  lielief.  It  would  almost  seem  as  if  the  terrific  personifi- 
cation of  punishment  in  the  Hindoo  code  had  become  a  living  re- 
ality there  :  "  Punishment  is  the  mspircr  of  teukou  ;  with  a  black 
aspect  and  a  red  eye,  it  terrifies  the  guilty."  Of  course,  it  does 
not  lie  within  the  province  of  the  present  paper  to  enter  into  any 
detail  upon  this  subject.  It  is  enough  to  say  that  no  sentiment  of 
humanity  towards  the  prisoner  seems  ever  to  have  entered  the 
breast  of  his  jailor,  no  look  or  tone  of  kindness  ever  to  have  sa- 
luted his  senses,  or  cheered  the  misery  of  his  incarceration.  Mer- 
ciless scourgings,  ponderous  irons  of  cruel  tightness,  thumbscrews, 


144 


PRISONS  AND  REFORMATORIES  OF  THE 


midcrgroniul  diingoonH,  iiiul  chuinings  to  iloatl  boilies  wore  nmong 
tho  puniMhincnts  iiiHictod  for  tin  iiifnictioii  of  prittoii  rulos.  It  wiih 
with  rofercncji  to  thcHo  iil)iiso>4  and  their  early  assailants,  particn- 
larly  Gen.  Oglethorpe,  tho  ilhintrioiis  founder  of  the  colony  of 
Georgia,  that,  in  bringing  out  a  new  o<lition  of  the  Seasons,  in  1730, 
Thompson  introduced  the  following  lines  : 

"  Yo  Roni  of  ineroy  !  yot  rcRume  tho  learoh, 
Drng  forth  the  Icgtl  moD8torH  into  light  ; 
Wrench  from  their  hands  opprogiion'i  iron  rod, 
And  tnaico  tho  cruel  feel  the  pangs  they  give." 

These  lines  contain  both  an  exhortation  and  u  prophecy.  Barn- 
bridge,  Acton,  Iluggins  and  Bjirnes,  among  the  worst  of  tho  "legal 
monsters"  thus  lampooned,  were  indeed  made  to  "feel  the  pangs 
they  gave  ;  "  they  were  ejected  from  their  otfices  as  jailors,  and 
subjected  to  legal  prosc<'utions  and  penalties  ;  some  of  them  hav 
ing  been  imprisoned  within  the  A^'ry  walls,  Avhich  had  been  the 
silent  witnesses  of  their  own  cruelties. 

How  wonderful  the  change  which  has  been  wrought  by  tho  com- 
bined agencies  of  religion,  education,  and  the  zealous  labors  of 
christian  philanthropists  !  Certainly  neither  harshness  nor  cruel- 
ty has  been  wholly  banished  from  the  administration  of  prisons  ; 
nevertheless,  the  law  of  force  is  gradually  giving  place  to  the  law 
of  love.  Year  by  year,  an  increasing  number  of  prison  olficcrs  are 
yielding  to  tho  conviction  that  counsel,  reproof,  remonstrance, 
persuasion,  and  motives  addressed  to  the  spiritual  nature  of  pris- 
oners are  more  potent  us  a  means  of  discipline,  than  mere  brute 
energy  ;  and  that  moral  agencies  are  to  bo  substituted  for  this  to 
the  utmost  extent  that  such  substitution  is  practicable.  It  is,  in- 
deed, quite  possible  that  there  are  convicts  of  so  coarse  a  mould 
by  nature,  and  so  l)rutalized  by  habits  of  sin,  that  they  can  be 
controlled  only  by  bodily  suffering.  But  the  number  of  such  we 
believe  to  be  comparatively  small.  There  are  few,  even  among 
criminals,  so  degraded  as  to  be  lnsensil)lo  to  sympath}'  and  aftec- 
tion.  There  is  a  chord  in  the  heart  of  the  most  depraved  and  tho 
most  erring,  from  which  the  touch  of  kindness  will  evoke  an  un- 
failing response. 

Among  the  interrogatories  proposed  by  the  undersigned  to  the 
superintendents  of  state  prisons  Avas  tho  following:  "  How  far  is 
kindness  employed  in  j^our  prison  as  a  means  of  discipline;  in  what 
ways,  and  with  what  effect?"  Tho  answers  returned  were,  in  the 
main,  in  harmony  with  the  views  expressed  in  tho  preceding  para- 
graph.    The  best  oflBcers,  those  of  the  largest  experience  and 


UNITED  STATU  AND  CANADA. 


146 


-who6t}i  administration  has  achiovod  tho  highest  snccoss,  aro  unani- 
niniis  in  tho  testimony  that  tho  hnmanc  system,  tho  system  which 
ri'lics  npon  moral  agencies,  is  more  ctToctive  in  securing  obodienco 
to  inison  ruU;s,  cheerful  industry  and  correct  deportment  on  the 
part  of  convicts,  and  in  promoting  their  reformation,  than  tho  sys- 
tem of  harshness  and  severity.  A  few  dissent;  hut  the  dissent- 
icnts  are  genth>men  who  liuvo  either  had  little  experience  as  prison 
oiKcers  or  possess  hut  slight  aptitude  for  tho  duties  of  their  posi- 
tion. One  says  that  kindness  is  employed  in  his  prison  as  far  as 
it  will  serve,  evidently  meaning  that  it  goes  but  a  little  way; 
another,  that  it  is  used  us  far  us  practicable,  with,  doubtless,  a 
like  reserve;  u  third,  that  it  has  very  little  effect  upon  prisoners. 

But  this  is  far  from  being  tho  voice  of  the  majority  of  respond- 
ents. The  key-note  is  struck  by  the  throe  from  whose  replies  we 
offer  the  following  extracts: 

Mr.  Huynes,  of  Massachusetts,  with  that  brevity  and  directness 
which  characterize  his  utterances,  says:  "Kindness  is  the  princi- 
pal means  of  discipline  employed  here;  and  it  is  used  in  every 
consistent  way.  It  is  believed  that  this  renders  the  prisoners 
more  confiding  and  obedient,  and  that  it  is  better  adapted  than  a 
more  strictly  coercive  discipline  to  promote  their  reformation.  I 
have  never  known  an  instance  where  I  thought  that  a  man  would 
be  made  better  by  the  infliction  of  blows;  nor  have  I  ever  yet,  as 
I  think,  met  the  person,  however  low  and  degraded,  however 
hardened  and  steeped  In  crime,  who  had  not  a  spot  in  his  heart 
that  could  be  touched  by  kindness." 

Mr.  Cordier,  of  Wisconsin,  says:  "Every  convict  in  this  prison 
is  treated  like  a  human  being,  and  not  as  an  outcast  from  societ}'. 
Wc  never  allow  any  oflScer  to  speak  to  him  harshly,  or  to  allude 
in  any  manner,  however  remote,  to  the  crime  of  which  he  stands 
convicted.  No  prisoner  is  punished  for  his  first  offence  against  the 
prison  rules,  unless  it  is  a  very  grave  one;  he  receives,  instead,  an 
earnest  but  kind  warning  not  to  repeat  it.  Punishment  is  never 
inflicted,  till  it  has  been  explained  to  the  offender  that  his  own 
good,  as  well  as  that  of  the  institution,  requires  it;  and  corporal 
punishment  is,  in  no  case,  inflicted.  We  never  let  prisoners  suffer 
for  want  of  comfortable  clothes,  or  of  good,  wholesome  food.  We 
take  good  care  of  them  when  sick.  We  encourage  them,  at  every 
opportunity,  to  cultivate  their  mental,  moral  and  physical  powers, 
and  to  make  a  solemn  pledge  to  ent^r  society  again  as  better  men. 
'  [Assem.  No.  35.]  10 


I  M 


146 


PBISONS  AND  REFORMATORIES  OP  THE 


We  find  that  kindness,  thus  employed,  always  has  the  most  salu- 
tary eft'ect." 

Mr.  Miller,  late  waiden  of  the  Missouri  state  penitentiarj'^, 
remarks:  "Kindness  is  the  great  central  idea  in  a  true  theory  of 
prison  discipline;  kindness  in  tone,  look,  and  utterance,  as  opposed 
to  a  coarse,  rude,  and  stern  manner  of  treatment.  It  was  upon 
this  theorj-^that  I  endeavored  to  administer  the  government  of  the 
prison.  A  failure  to  impress  on  the  prisoner  the  conviction  that 
you  have  an  interest  in  and  sympathy  for  him  has  always  an  unfa- 
vorable effect.  Kindness  is  a  means  of  discipline  which  I  have 
always  found  effective.  If  really  felt  in  the  heart  and  constantly 
maintained  in  the  administration,  it  will,  in  the  end,  subdue  the 
most  hardened,  and  reclaim  those  who  have  been  found  incor- 
rigible by  any  and  all  other  agencies.  In  many  instances,  where 
different  kinds  of  punishment  had  failed  to  make  any  lasting 
impression  on  the  subject,  I  have  known  kindness  to  work  a  thor- 
ough revolution  in  the  man.     Indeed,  its  effect  is  never  lost." 

It  has  often  occurred  to  us,  in  reflecting  on  this  subject,  that  we 
might  take  a  lesson,  both  pertinent  and  valuable,  from  God's 
moral  government.  We  are  a  world  of  malefactors.  The  posi- 
tion we  occupy  is  that  of  a  criminal  revolt  against  our  rightful 
Lord.  And  what  is  the  object,  what  the  method,  of  his  adminis- 
tration? liefojvnofwn  through  kindness.  Punishment,  then,  with 
reformation  for  its  end  and  kindness  as  the  means,  is  an  old  rela- 
tion, which  comes  down  to  us  under  the  sanction  of  an  authority 
that  none  may  question.  When  the  first  great  crime  was  com- 
mitted, the  punishment  awarded  to  the  criminal  was  one  which 
included  in  it  the  idea  of  reformation.  Man  was  driven  from 
Eden,  but  the  very  sentence  that  announced  his  punishment  opened 
to  him  the  hope  of  a  second  paradise,  more  glorious  than  the  one 
he  had  lost.  The  method  of  the  recovery  is  expressed,  with  a 
beautiful  terseness,  by  the  prophet  Jeremiah,  in  the  third  verse  of 
his  thirty-first  chapter:  "  With  loving-kindness  have  I  drawn  thee." 
This  loving-kindness  of  God  is  that  cord  of  a  man,  that  bauu 
of  love,  with  which  he  draws  us  to  virtue  and  to  heaven. 
Our  recovery  is  to  be  effected  through  the  influence  of  a  demon- 
stration of  good  will  in  the  gift  and  mission  of  his  Son.  The 
problem  was  to  win  back  man's  love  and  obedience.  Kindness 
was  God's  device  to  achieve  this  miracle.  In  no  other  way,  it 
would  seem,  could  a  responding  affection  be  awakened  in  the  heart 
of  mau.    Authority  could  not  command,  nor  terror  charm  it  into 


UNITED  STATES  AND  CANADA. 


147 


existence.  The  human  heart  remains  shut,  as  with  the  force  of  a 
vice,  against  all  applications  of  strength  or  intimidation.  But  God, 
Avho  knew  what  was  in  man,  since  he  gave  him  the  nature  which 
he  possesses,  knew  that  in  his  dark  and  guilty  bosom  there  was 
one  hold  which  he  still  had  upon  him.  He  knew  that  to  reach 
his  heart,  all  leprous  as  it  was,  he  must  just  lavish  upon  him  the 
treasures  of  his  kindness. 

Here,  it  seems  to  us,  we  h-ive  a  divine  pattern,  which,  in  our 
humble  measure,  we  are  to  imitate  in  our  treatment  of  criminals. 
The  convicts  in  our  prisons  are  not  beyond  the  influence  of  the 
same  principle  which  the  Divine  Governor,  in  the  reach  of  his 
infinite  wisdom,  has  employed  with  such  stupendous  results  in 
his  moral  administration  of  our  fallen  world.  Howard,  the  world- 
renowned  philanthropist,  as  the  fruit  of  his  wide  observation, 
came  to  this  conclusion.  He  tells  us  that  convicts  are  not  ungov- 
ernable; that  there  is  a  way  of  managing  even  the  most  desperate 
among  them;  and  that  that  way  is,  without  in  the  least  relaxing 
the  steadiness  of  a  calm  and  resolute  discipline,  to  treat  them  with 
tenderness  and  humanity.  Such  was  the  conviction  of  this  sagacious 
observer  after  years  of  intercourse  Avith  criminals  of  all  classes. 
It  would  appear,  then,  that  genuine  kindness  is  a  principle  which 
keeps  a  lingering  hold  of  our  nature,  even  in  the  last  and  lowest 
degrees  of  human  wicko:lness.  In  offenders,  the  most  hardened 
and  inveterate,  there  still  remains  one  soft  part  which  will  yield 
to  the  demonstrations  of  tenderness  and  love.  This  one  ingredi- 
ent, at  least,  of  a  better  character — susceptibility  to  kindness — is 
found  to  survive  the  destruction  of  all  the  others.  However  fallen 
a  man  may  be  from  the  moralities  which  once  adorned  him,  what- 
ever abyss  of  crime  he  may  have  reached  in  his  descent,  the  man- 
ifestation of  good  Avill,  of  heartfelt  kindness,  on  the  part  of  his 
fellow  man,  carries  with  it  a  softening,  purifying,  redeeming  influ- 
ence. There  lies  in  cuch  demonstrations  a  recuperative  and 
restorative  power,  which  no  degree  of  depravity  can  dtterly  de- 
stroy; and  through  the  skillful  application  of  this  power,  the  very 
worst  of  men  can  be  converted  into  consentinj!:  and  williuj;  acrents 
of  their  own  reformation. 

The  good  effect  of  kindness  upon  prisoners  is  well  illustrated 
in  the  following  lines,  Intely  addressed  by  a  convict  incarcerated 
in  Sing  Sing  prison,  to  Mr.  Gaylord  B,  Hubbell.  Mr.  H.  Avas  a 
few  years  ago  at  the  head  of  that  prison,  and  it  i^  avoU  knoAvii 


i>   « 


f 

iif 


148 


PRISONS  AND  REFOBMATOBIES  OF   THE 


that  he  impressed  upon  its  administration  a  stamp  of  extraordi- 
nary humanity  and  gentleness,  without,  however,  abating  a  par- 
ticle of  its  vigor  and  efficiency.  There  was  one  practice  adopted 
by  him  quite  peculiar,  and  wonderfully  effective  as  an  instrument 
of  government.  He  appropriated  one  hour  each  day  exclusively 
to  receiving  the  calls  of  such  convicts  as  had  any  care,  grief,  or 
burden,  in  reference  to  which  they  desired  counsel  or  redress. 
There  is  an  allusion  to  these  interviews  in  the  subjoined  lines. 
One  of  us  has  often  been  present  on  the  occasions  when  the  con- 
victs thus  confided  their  sorrows  to  their  chief,  and  sought  his 
interposition  ;  and  the  patience  with  which  he  listened  to  their 
tales,  the  wisdom  he  showed  in  resolving  their  several  cases,  and 
the  child-like  confidence  and  submission  with  which  they  received 
his  decisons  were  beautiful  to  see. 

THE  CONVICT'S  FRIEND. 
To  tie  Hon.  G.  B,  Hvbbell,/ortntrly  Agent  and  Warden  of  Sing  Sing  Prison, 

BY  A   CONVICT. 

The  Conviet's  Friend!  the  Convict's  Friend! 

The  people  mattered  "shame"! 
That  one  so  good  should  oondesoend 

To  bear  so  vile  a  name. 
He  heeded  not  their  idle  words. 

Felt  not  their  harmless  stings; 
His  master  was  the  Lord  of  Lord8> 

He  served  the  King  of  Kings. 
And  when  the  jealous  world  oomplained. 

Or  oared  not  to  commend. 
He  onlj  smiled,  and  still  remained 

The  friendless  Convict's  Friend.  i 

Till  angels  from  above  shall  deign 

To  come  at  mercy's  calls, 
We  ne'er  shall  see  his  like  again 

Within  these  prison  walls.  ' 

With  firm  but  gentle  hand  he  ourbed 

Our  wild  and  wayward  wills. 
And  calmed  the  storm  that  once  disturbed 

Mount  Pleasant's*  peaceful  hills. 
He  would  not  break  our  stubborn  hearts;  ^ 

He  only  sought  to  bend 
By  gentle  means  and  kindly  arts,  . 

And  be  the  Convict's  Friend. 


His  Christian  spirit  sympathized 

As  only  Christians  oun; 
And  in  each  oonviot  recogniied 

A  fallen  brother  man.  v 

And  we  t .  him  could  always  go. 

As  to  a  father  dear, 

*  Sing  Sing  was  formerly  called  Mount  Pleastott. 


UNITED  STATES  AND   CANADA. 


149 


t 
7 

r 

). 

}. 

1- 

is 

ir 

id 

jd 


And  ponr  oar  Ules  of  grief  amd  woe 

In  his  attentive  ear ; 
And  none  who  sought  him  failed  to  <ee» 

Or  f«il«d  to  eomprekend 
Why  h«  aloBe  of  all  should  he 

The  Cenvict'8  steadfast  Friend. 

He  know  wiiat  ethers  never  knewj 

Felt  what  they  never  felt; 
He  did  what  others  never  do, 

Dealt  as  they  never  dealt.  i 

Where  others  saw  nnmingled  vioe> 

And  mental,  moral  dearth> 
He  saw,  with  sense  more  just  and  niee« 

The  aoeidents  of  birth, 
A  thousand  hidden  things,  on  wbioh 

Our  very  lives  depend ; 
And  justiee,  love  and  mercy  teach 

The  honest  Convict's  Friend. 

He  would  not  grind  us  down  for  pelf  ' 

In  this  aecursed  den ; 
He  rather  chose  to  wrong  himself 
■s     •  Than  wrong  his  fellow  man. 

-   ,  ,■    And  if  for  true  or  fancied  wrong 
We  sought  and  claimed  redress. 
He  listened  patiently  and  long 
1         And  answered  "noj"  or  "yes." 
But  with  his  judgments,  just  and  kind, 

We  dared  not  to  contend ; 
We  recognised  a  master  mind 
Within  the  Convict's  Friend. 

—  The  hate  by  other  men  inspired 

-  Was  turned  to  Icve  by  him, 

And  his  great  kindness  never  tired. 

While  they  were  harsh  and  grim. 
And  when  he  made  his  last  good-bye, 

To  come  again  no  more, 
Oh !  there  were  many  weeping  eyes 

That  never  wept  before. 
No  more  upon  his  gentle  will 

Our  hopes  and  fears  depend ; 
We  miss  him  here,  but  he  is  still 

The  Convict's  cherished  Friend. 

M:  Huhhell  rcill  'please  accept  this  humble  token  of  a  ronvict's 
gratitude  and  affection. 
November,  1866. 

Although  kindness  as  a  principle  of  discipline  is,  as  we  have 
seen,  to  a  considerable  extent,  adopted  in  theory  and  applied  in 
the  practical  administration  of  our  prison*,  yet  it  lacks  the  steadi* 
ness  and  efficiency,  which  would  be  imparted  by  comprehensive 
and  judicious  organization;   in  other  words,  by  a  well  devised 


150 


PRISONS  AND  REFORMATORIES  OF  THE 


system  of  rewards  iis  an  cncourageinent  to  good  conduct.  On  this 
.subject  an  intelligent  and  trusted  convict,  in  a  large  and  ini))ort- 
ant  prison,  said:  "As  n^itters  stand,  and  as  I  have  seen  them 
during  my  four  years'  sojourn  here,  I  have  come  to  the  conclusion 
that  whatever  convict  conducts  himself  ill  will  be  punished,  and 
that  he  who  is  reformed,  proving  this  by  his  conduct,  will  iu)t,  or 
but  slightly,  be  rewarded."  Doubtless,  there  is  much  (shall  we 
say  too  nnich?)  truth  in  the  hwt  part  of  this  statement.  It  ap- 
pears to  us  a  matter  of  great  importance,  that  there  should  be 
given  to  the  convict,  while  expiating  his  crime,  that  stimulus  to 
exertion  which  actuates  men  in  common  life.  All  hope  cf  reward 
being  taken  away,  who  among  us  would  bo  willing  to  toil?  The 
case  of  the  prisoner,  witii  no  prospect  of  reward,  is  like  that  of 
the  man  in  society  who  has  lost  hope.  lie  becomes  torpid,  indif- 
ferent, reckless,  lint  set  the  hope  of  peivsonal  benefit  before  him, 
and  give  him  a  fair  chance  of  securing  it,  and  you  have  placed  in 
his  view  an  object  wli:  Ii,  while  it  elevates  hi^  aims,  will,  at  the 
same  time,  rouse  his  ;unbi(i()n  and  stimiiiiite  his  ellbrts. 

We  are  sorr}' tobe  obliged  to  state  the  conviction  that  there  is  not 
a  prison  in  the  United  States  or  (Canada,  where  anything  lik#'awell 
considered  and  comprehensive  scheme  luis  been  introduced,  witlia 
viewof  inspiring  the  convicts  with  hope  and  stinuilatingllieiii  thereby 
to  industry  and  good  conduct.  And  we  are  still  more  sorry  t<»  be 
obliged  to  add  that  many,  oven  of  those  who  nmst  be  esteemed 
our  best  prison  othcers,  ajtpear  to  have  but  a  low  ai)pr<eiati<)n  of 
the  benefits  of  such  a  system.  One  remadks  :  "The  principlr 
of  rewards  ought  not  to  be  empl<»yed  to  too  great  an  c.xtMit."  evi- 
dently thinking  that  the  point  of  ex<ess  wouW  be  very  near  the 
point  of  departure.  Another  says:  "  We  ari'  (»ij>posed  to  any  ays- 
h'»i  oi'  rewards  to  <'onvi«'ts.''  A  third:  •It  is  doubtful  \v)j*-lher 
a  more  extensive^  .*\i>"tem  of  I'ewards  eould  l>e  introdnct'd  into  '»ur 
prisons  with  advanitage.''  A  foui"tb  ■  'The  <'Xi)e(lieney  of  extend- 
ing the  system  of  rewiirfU  in  (>»ur  prisons  is  regarded  as  doul)tfni.  " 
A  fiftl)  :  "  It  it*  douliteiii  Fd»*^i*ei"  rewi*rds  to  convictH  would  bt 
beneficiail." 

M«)st  of  the  jfij'Mtlemen.  wl^ose  oj>i«ions  are  given  in  these  ex- 
tracts, are  wairdens  of  in»ix)rtant  ^rmmti,  aud  some  of  them  have 
deservedly  a«-.<jnired  distinction  tis  j>rison  otiicers.  In  giving 
expression  to  tit*-  judgiUHnts  cited.  tli*y  have  assuredly  laid  them- 
selves open  to  the  ehargt  of  u  degree  of  inconsistency;  since, 
jw^ith  but  <M*e  exception,  they  hav*;  been  liberal   in  tjueir  [)raisc  of 


UNITED  STATES  AND  CANADA. 


151 


what  is  known  in  our  statute  books  as  the  commutation  law;  a  law 
which  remits  a  certain  portion  of  Iho  convict's  sentence,  in  con- 
sideration of  his  diligence  and  obedience  to  prison  rules;  a  law, 
therefore,  which  constitutes  a  part  of  the  very  system  of  rewards 
which  they  condemn  under  that  name.  This  shows,  we  think, 
that  little  earnest  consideration  has  been  given  to  the  subject,  and 
that  the  opinions  of  these  persons  are  more  the  result  of  prejudice 
than  the  dictate  of  a  calm  and  enlightened  judgment.  It  is  a 
relief  to  find  those  humane  and  thoughtful  o+ficers,  Messrs.  Cordicr 
juid  Miller,  warmly  espousing  tlu;  side  of  this  question  wlii(;h  looks 
to  progress,  to  improvement,  to  reform  in  our  methods  of  prison  ad- 
miiiLsfration,  and  which  unites  all  suffrages  among  the  wisest  and 
most  eulighteued  of  the  friends  of  a  reformatory  ;)risoii  discipline 
in  Europe.  Of  the  Irish  prison  system,  whose  (me  great  aim  is  the 
reformation  of  its  subjects,  and  which  has  succcicded  in  that 
design  beyond  all  others  known  in  history,  the  fundamental  prin- 
ciple, the  warp  and  woof  of  the  whole,  its  very  sum  and  essence,  is 
hope; — hope  bom  and  nourished  of  rewards  earned  l)y  good 
i-onduct  and  given  only  to  the  deserving;  rewards  manifold  in 
their  character  and  (jperating  as  a  <!onstant  foi'ce,  from  the  time 
when  the  prisoner  enters  his  solitary  cell  at  Mountjoy.  till  he 
Avalks  fortli  a  fre-e  man,  "  redeemed,  rc^generated,  and  disen- 
thralled," from  the  internuidiate  prisons  of  Lusk  and  8mithtield. 
So,  too,  of  the  mark  system  of  Capt.  Alexander  Machonochie, — 
that  extraoi-dinary  man  who  was  a  full  century  in  advance  of  his 
contemporaries  in  his  philosophy  of  pui)lic  punishment, — the 
essential  [jrinciple  was,  in  like  manner,  rewards  given  in  the  shape 
of  marks  for  industry  in  work,  progress  in  religious  and  secular 
knowledge,  and  general  good  conduct;  v>'hich  uiuiks  had  a  money 
value  in  the  prison,  and  served  for  the  purchase  of  fooil,  clothes, 
and  other  comforts  and  indulgences  during  their  incarceration 
(for  the  prisoners  were  obliged  in  this  way  to  pay  for  everthing 
they  had);  and  the  surplus  of  marks,  after  defraying  all  their 
prison  ex})(Mises,  went,  according  to  the  theory,  towards  their 
liberation;  but  the  Captain  was  never  able,  either  at  Norfolk 
Island  or  Birmingham  jail,  to  induce  the  authorities  to  alloAV  him 
to  carry  his  plan  to  that  length.  The  system,  therefore,  cramped 
and  restricted  as  it  was  in  its  operation,  never  had  a  full  and  fair 
trial.  Nevertheless,  despite  the  )iarrow  range  to  which  it  was 
confined  and  the  limited  power  given  to  the  marks,  it  accom- 
plished wonders.     The  penal  colony  on  Norfolk  Island  contained 


a. 


152 


PRISONS  AND  REFORMATOBIES  OF  THE 


the  scum  and  scrapings  of  all  the  other  colonics,  the  most 
depraved  and  brutalized  of  all  England's  transported  convicts. 
Yet  at  the  end  of  his  four  years'  administration,  he  could  declare 
with  truth:  "  I  found  the  Island  a  turbulent,  brutal  hell;  I  left  it 
a  peaceful,  well-ordered  community.  The  most  complete  security 
alike  of  person  and  property  prevailed.  Officers,  women  and 
children  traversed  the  Island  everywhere  without  fear;  and  huts, 
gardens,  stock-yards,  and  growing  crops,  many  of  them,  as  of 
fruit,  most  tempting,  were  scattered  in  every  corner  without 
molestation."  He  expresses  the  opinion  that  "there  was  more 
manly  purpose  and  a  higher  quAlity  of  moral  agency  in  any  six 
of  liis  better  men  on  Norfolk  Island  than  in  all  the  exclusively 
coercive  prisons  that  were  ever  invented."  This  testimony  is 
abundantly  «  :.•.  .ued  by  disinterested  witnesses,  one  of  whom, 
the  author  of  Recollections  of  Sixteen  Years  in  Australia,"  says: 
"Captain  >'l<v  noehie  did  more  for  the  reformation  of  these 
unhap!  y  ^  rotcfiea  than  the  most  sanguine  practical  mind  could 
beibreh  I  ,^e:  ventured  even  to  hope."  And  how  were  such 
extraordiu!!,r^  -esults  achieved  ?  By  moral  agencies  almost 
wholly.  H"  >  |w  >>"»ners  >yero  reasoned  with,  not  bullied;  they 
were  sought  to  be  raised,  not  crushed;  above  all,  they  had  an 
interest,  vital  and  profound,  in  their  own  good  conduct.  In  other 
words,  they  were  softened,  subdued,  and  tt  formed  through  a 
comprehensive  and  judicious  system  of  rewards,  by  which  the 
principle  of  hope  was  kept  in  conatant  and  active  play  within 
their  breasts. 

In  the  i'uiv  of  examples  and  results  like  these,  how  cold,  dry, 
hard,  and  utterly  jejune  do  such  expressi(»ns  as  the  following 
from  the  presiding  officers  of  our  jirisonw  aj>pear:  "We  are  op- 
posed to  any  system  <4  rewards" —  it  is  doubtful  wlicther  any 
rewards  to  convicts  wo«J«i  be  ben€fi<^ial  " — "  the  principle  of  re- 
ward)"  should  not  be  fjarried  too  far'* — "the  expediency  of  ex- 
teii<l)i';i  tho  system  of  rewards  to  conviitsis  doubted.''  In  eifect, 
little  play  in  given  to  this  prin/;iple  in  ta  j  very  best  of  our  Amer- 
ican penitentiaries.  The  ward*;n  of  t):^  Mjiine  state  ,  rison  ob- 
serves: "Kewards  are  employed  in  thi-  prison,  to  some  extent,  as 
a  stimwlus  U>  good  conduct,"  How  far  or  in  what  ways  is  not 
stated,  it  is  not  probable  tha'  the  detail  would  be  very  extensive. 
The  warden  of  the  Wisconsin  state  prison  says:  "We  grant  to  the 
deserving  little  favors  which  are  denied  to  the  undeserving."  The 
late  warden  of  the  Missouri  state  penitentiary  remarks:  "Kewards 


UNITED  STATES  AND  CANADA. 


163 


hre  in  use  here,  such  as  extra  privileges;  for  example,  the  privi- 
lege of  having  access  to  the  yard  on  Sundays  and  after  working 
hours  arc  over  in  the  evenings,  and  the  privilege  of  more  fre- 
quent correspondence  with  their  friends.  The  effect  of  such  indul- 
gences has  been  found  most  excellent.  The  convicts  appreciate 
highly  these  recognitions  of  their  worthiness,  and  manifest  the 
most  grateful  feelings;  and  when  it  is  understood  that  all  who 
earn  the  privileges  named  are  entitled  to  them  and  will  certainly 
be  permitted  to  enjoy  them,  it  proves  a  wonderful  incentive  to 
good  conduct."  In  Vermont,  the  chaplain  reports  that  well- 
conducted  prisoners  have  certain  special  privileges  accorded  to 
them  in  the  way  of  writing,  reading,  &c. ;  but  gives  no  specifications. 

The  above  statement  exhausts  the  detail,  as  far  as  known  to  us 
— certainly  a  most  meagre  exhibit — of  the  rewards  held  out  to 
convicts  in  American  prisons  as  an  encouragement  and  incentive 
to  good  conduct,  beyond  what  is  to  be  immediately  noticed. 

In  nine  of  the  states  of  our  Union — Connecticut,  Illinois,  Indi- 
ann,  Maine,  Massachusetts,  Michigan,  New  York,  Ohio,  and  Wis- 
consin— an  excellent  foundation  for  an  effective  system  of  rewards 
has  been  laid  in  the  passage  of  acts,  under  the  general  title  of 
commutation  laws,  the  design  of  which  is  to  encourage  and  stim- 
ulate prisoners  to  industry,  obedience,  and  general  good  conduct, 
by  allowing  them  to  earn  thereby  a  certain  diminution  of  their 
terms  of  sentence.  By  these  acts,  as  a  general  rule,  convicts,  by 
uniform  good  conduct,  can  earn  a  diminution  of  five  days  per 
month;  but  in  New  York,  from  the  fourth  to  the  tenth  year  of 
imprisonment,  they  can  earn  seven  and  a  half  days  per  month, 
and  thenceforward  ten  days,  so  that  a  convict  sentenced  for  ten 
years  can  shorten  his  tenn  of  imprisonment  by  two  years  and  one 
month;  a  fraction  over  one-fifth  of  the  whole  term;  and  one  sen- 
tenced for  twenty  years  can  shorten  it  by  five  years  and  five 
months,  rathei-  more  than  one-fourth  of  the  entirf^  period. 

The  principle  of  this  law  we  regard  as  founded  in  reason  and 
justice,  and  the  policy  established  by  it  as  wise  and  beneficent. 
The  effect  of  this  policy  is  to  change,  in  some  respects,  the  aspect 
and  condition  of  prison  life.  In  keeping  before  prisoners  a  per- 
manent and  ever  present  incentive  to  good  conduct,  it  foi'tifies  the 
resolutions  of  many  a  feeble  mind,  and  counteracts,  in  others,  the 
tendency  to  feelings  of  despondency,  recklessness,  and  revenge, 
which  their  situation  is  apt  to  engender,  and  in  which  many  of 
them  are  prone  to  indulge.     In  encouraging  them  to  perform 


[S« 


164 


PRISONS  AND   REFORM'ATOBIES  OF  THE 


their  work  cheerfully,  it  has,  so  far,  the  good  eflfect  of  converting 
coerced  into  voluntary  labor;  while,  as  a  moans  of  discipline,  ap- 
pealing to  the  better  feelings  of  all  in  Avhoni  snch  feelings  still 
have  a  place,  and  substituting  rewards  instead  of  punishments, 
moral  instead  of  merij  brute  force,  and  hope  in  the  place  of  fear, 
its  operation  cannjt  be  otherwise  than  healthful  and  bracing 
to  their  moral  nature.  A  hnv  of  which  all  this  can  be  said  with 
truth,  and  we  bolive  it  can  bo  so  said  of  the  one  now  under  con- 
sideration, needfe  no  further  vindication. 

But  further  vindication,  and  that  in  abundance,  is  at  hand,  in  the 
fruits  which  it  has  borne.  Tested  by  its  actual  operation  and 
effect,  it  is  found  to  be  a  most  salutary  law.  Mr.  Haynes  testifies: 
•'The  effect  of  thi»  law  in  the  Mussachusetts  state  prison  has  been 
good.  I  think  it  vhe  most  important  step  in  prison  discii)line  that 
ha.s  been  taken  in  this  country  in  the  last  forty  years."  The  war- 
den of  the  Wisconsin  state  prison  says:  "I  consider  the  commu- 
tation laAv  a  more  powerful  agency  to  promote  good  conduct 
among  convicts  than  anything  else  that  could  have  been  devised 
for  that  end."  The  warden  of  the  Ohio  state  prison  says  of  it : 
"  No  law  ever  pjissed  by  tlic  Legislature  has  been  so  marked  in 
its  influence  for  good  since  Ohio  has  been  a  state,  as  that  which 
enables  pi-isoners  to  earn  the  remission  of  part  of  their  sentence  by 
good  conduct.  It  works,  admirably,  and  Inis  done  much  towards 
keeping  up  the  discipline  of  the  institution."  The  authorities  of 
the  Connecticut  state  prison  attest  the  excellence  of  this  law  in  the 
following  terms :  "The  law  authorizing  a  deduction  from  the  sen- 
tences of  convicts  for  good  behavior  has  been  attended  with  ])ene- 
ficial  results.  It  has  been  received  with  gratitude  by  almost  every 
inmate  of  the  prison.  The  discipline  of  the  prison  was  never  bet- 
ter, and  it  has  been  maintained  with  less  punishment  than  former- 
ly ;  a  i-esult  owing,  in  a  great  measure,  to  the  commutation  law. 
More  tlian  oijrhty  per  cent,  of  the  pris(mers  in  18().5  had  a  perfect 
record  of  <:ood  conduit  throujjhout  the  vear."  The  late  warden 
of  the  Mi(»higan  stat<  jtrison,  Mr.  Scaton,  bears  this  testimony  to 
the  good  effects  of  the  l'\w  :  "  Very  desirable  results  have  followed 
from  making  a  prisoner's  continement,  to  a  certain  de;^r(H',  depend 
for  its  duration  upon  himself.  The  lnten>iie  anxiety  which  all  con- 
victs munifesi  in  relation  to  their  'good  tinu-.'  and  tbe  earnestnes-i 
which  they  exhibit  to  save  <very  possible  day  of  ii,  show  that  ^he\ 
place  some  estimate  upon  their  life  in  society  again,  and  have  not 
lost  all  appreciation  of  public  opinion.     Moro   work  is  done,  it  is 


UNITED  STATES  AND  CANADA. 


166 


performed  more  cheerfully,  and  better  discipliuo  is  maintnined 
now  than  formerly,  us  the  result  of  our  'good  time'  law.  Of  pris- 
oners discharged  last  year  (18G4),  more  than  ninety  per  cent  con- 
ducted themselves  with  such  propriety  as  to  secure  the  whole  of 
their  good  time." 

In  all  the  states  that  have  commutation  laws,  except  Maine,  time 
earned  by  good  conduct  rnay  be  forfeited,  in  whole  or  in  part,  by 
subsequent  bad  conduct.  In  some  of  them,  this  forfeiture  is  in 
the  discretion  of  the  Avarden  ;  in  others,  it  is  in  that  of  the  inspec- 
tors or  directors.  It  rests  with  these  officers  to  determine,  first, 
whether  there  shall  be  any  forfeiture  at  all  in  any  given  case,  and, 
secondly,  to  what  extent,  if  at  all,  such  forfeiture  shall  take  effect. 
I«  Maine,  time  once  earned  is  placed  beyond  all  contingency  • 
there  is  no  power  in  the  prison  or  the  state  that  can  exact  its  for- 
feiture. 

In  the  prisons  of  all  the  states  where  these  commutation  acts 
have  been  passed,  the  law  is  fully  oxplained  to  the  prisoners  on 
entering,  and  they  are  made  to  understand  it.  In  Massachusetts, 
each  convict  is  annually  furnished  with  an  almanac,  in  which  he 
carefully  notes  down,  month  by  month,  the  number  of  days  earned 
by  good  conduct  and  the  number  forfeited  by  bad.  This  record 
h&  guards  with  the  utmost  care  :  the  days  to  be  remitted  from  his 
sentence  are  a  treasure,  which  he  hoards  an  H  counts  as  a  raiser 
does  his  gold.  As  the  heap,  so  to  speak,  increases,  he  becomes 
more  anxious  to  add  to  its  bulk  ;  and  of  course  ho  is  proportion- 
ally careful  to  observe  the  strictest  propriety  in  his  conduct,  and 
to  avoid  all  infraction  of  prison  rules.  How  much  these  days  of 
anticipated  freedom  are  prized  by  convicts  will  appear  from  the 
following  statement.  A  prisoner,  in  a  certain  prison,  had  earned 
by  good  conduct  a  considerable  reduction  of  sentence,  and  by 
overwork  a  considerable  sum  of  money.  The  money  had  been 
paid  to  him,  and  ho  was  upon  tho  point  of  receiving  his  discharge 
so  many  days  prior  to  the  expiration  of  his  sentence.  Holding 
up  tho  greenbacks  to  the  view  of  the  principal  keeper,  he  said  : 
"Mr.  W.,  I  Avould  sooner  part  with  the  whole  of  these  than  give 
up  one  day  of  the  number  I  have  gained  by  observance  of  the 
prison  rules." 

In  r.o  prison,  except  that  of  Massachusetts,  do  convicts  appear 
to  be  furnished  with  almanacs  for  recording  time  gained,  and  in 
no  other  's  there  so  much  system  in  the  record.  In  some  others 
they  keep  a  record,  and  know  how  much  they  have  gained  so  long 


'■'.m 


»i 


156 


PRISONS  AND  REFORMATORIES  OF  THE 


ns  they  nre  not  reported  for  a  violntion  of  rules;  but  when  so  re- 
ported, they  are  not  informed  whether  any,  and  If  any,  how  much 
time  has  been  adjudged  to  have  been  forfeited;  and  m  they  lose 
the  exact  state  ot  the  account,  which  cannot  but  have  a  disheart- 
ening effect.  The  Massuclmsettsplan  we  regard  as  much  the  most 
satisfjictory,  where  convicts  arc  informed  both  what  they  gain  and 
what  they  lose,  and  are  furnished  with  the  means  of  keeping  an 
exact  acount  of  the  samo. 

In  the  commutation  acts  of  Illinois  and  Wisconsin  there  is  a 
provision  which  must  commend  itself  to  every  just  and  humane 
mind,  and  to  which  we  earnestly  invite  the  attention  of  the  legis- 
lators of  other  states.  In  Illinois,  every  convict  who  passes  the 
whole  time  of  his  sentence  without  having  had  any  infraction  of 
the  discipline  recorded  against  him,  is  entitled  to  a  certificate  to 
that  effect  from  the  warden,  and  on  presentation  of  such  certificate 
to  the  Governor,  he  is,  in  like  manner,  entitled  to  a  certificate 
from  him  of  rt>storation  to  all  the  rights  of  citizenship  forfeited 
by  bis  conviction,  which  certificate  is  to  be  taken  as  evidence  of 
the  fact  in  all  courts  of  record  and  elsewhere.  The  pro\jsion  in 
the  act  of  Wisconsin  is  the  same,  except  as  to  the  mode  of  certi- 
fying the  fact  of  restoration.  It  is  in  these  Avords:  "  Any  con- 
vict TV  iio,  at  the  expiration  of  the  term  of  his  sentence,  shall  obtain  a 
certificate  from  the  deputy  commissioner,  that,  during  his  term  of 
confinement,  su(h  convict  has  fisaiutained  a  good  character  for 
obedience,  industry,  and  i?:loa:n}} ,  e'uch  certificate,  countersigned 
by  the  commissioner,  shall  restce  such  convict  to  citizenship." 

We  have  ci.ed  the  opinions  of  a  number  of  wardens  against 
the  policy  of  extending  the  system  of  rewards  in  our  prisons.  A 
considerable  number,  on  the  contrary,  declare,  in  general  terms, 
that  there  can  be  no  objection  to  such  extension,  but  might  be 
some  advantage  in  it.  Still,  it  is  quite  evident  that  their  hearts 
are  not  in  the  matter,  and  that  they  have  given  rather  an  unthink- 
ing than  a  well  considered  assent  to  the  proposition.  Only  tAvo 
seem  to  be  cordial  and  earnest,  and  at  the  same  time  intelligent, 
in  their  approval  and  advocacy  of  the  plan. 

Mr.  H.  Cordier  says:  "A  system  of  rewards  in  convict  prisons, 
whi«h  should  be  most  judicious  in  its  principles  and  its  methods 
of  applying  them,  would  be  the  least  objectionable  and  the  most 
effective.  As  long  as  our  convicts  are  merely  white  slaves,  work- 
ing for  their  masters  without  compensation,  they  must  be  excused 
for  not  having  much  confidence  in  the  sincerity  of  their  law- 


UNITED  STATES  AND  CANADA. 


157 


givers.  Although  they  have,  to  a  certain  extent,  forfeited  their 
liberty,  yet.  they  Hhould  not,  for  that  reason,  be  prevented  from 
performing  the  duty,  even  when  imprisoned,  of  providing  in  some 
mciiHurc,  for  the  wants  of  their  families.  I  have  seen  much,  very 
nmch  misery  in  the  families  of  convicts.  While  the  father  works 
faithfully  from  morning  till  night,  his  children  are  cold  and 
hungry,  and  the  wife  and  mother  is  too  often  dragged  down  into 
vice  and  dissipation;  and  so  the  punishment  of  one  criminal  makcR 
another.  This  ought  not  so  to  be.  Something  cfTectuul  should 
bo  done  to  correct  this  evil.  I  would,  therefore,  recommend  that 
a  correct  account  of  the  earnings  of  each  convict,  during  his  im- 
prisonment, 1)0  kept,  and  that  a  portion — say  twenty  to  twenty- 
iive  per  cent. — be  placed  to  his  credit  for  the  benetit  of  !  <aiaily, 
or  of  himself  if  ho  be  single,  provided  always  that  ho  si  ^ow 

himself  deserving.     This  would  be  a  powerful  stimn  iiii- 

gence  and  good  conduct.  It  would,  in  effect,  place  it  m  ine 
option  of  each  convict  to  punish  or  reward  himself.  It  would 
make  him  diligent;  and  a  diligent  convict  is  always — so  ut  least  I 
have  found  it — a  well  behaved  one.  I  confess  that  this  plan 
would  not  help  much  to  make  prisons  self-sustaining;  but  do  we 
not  profess  to  be  a  Christian  people?" 

Mr.  P.  T.  Miller  holds  the  following  language  on  this  subject: 
"  I  am  of  the  opinion  that  an  extended  system  of  rewards  might 
with  advantage  be  introduced  ii;  to  our  prisons.  First  in  import- 
ance, in  such  a  system,  would  be  permission  to  the  convict  to 
abridge  his  term  of  imprisonment  by  good  conduct;  that  is,  the 
commutation  law,  already  enacted  by  the  legislatures  of  a  number 
of  states.  As  a  disciplinary  measure,  this  law  is  worth  all  the 
shower-baths,  dark  cells,  iron  caps,  lashes,  bucks,  crucifixes,  and 
other  refined  methods  of  punishment,  known  to  the  science  of 
penology.  These  latter  may,  indeed,  break  the  spirit  of  the  con- 
vict, and  reduce  him  to  that  sort  of  obedience  which  is  yielded  by 
the  unreasoning  brute,  the  obedience  of  fear;  but  the  former, 
appealing  to  his  personal  interest  and  operating  on  his  better 
nature,  furnishes  that  which  is  necessary  to  every  man,  whatever 
his  condition  in  life,  a  motive  to  do  right,  an  incentive  to  the 
faithful  performance  of  his  duty.  Man's  nature  is  not  changed 
by  confinement  within  prison  walls;  there,  as  elsewhere,  he  is 
influenced  by  the  hope  of  good  and  the  dread  of  evil:  and  the 
former,  if  equal  play  be  given  to  it,  will  be  found  as  much  more 
powerful  within  as  it  is  without  the  precincts  of  a  prison.    The 


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PRISONS  AND  REFORMATORIES  OF  THE 


hope  of  reward,  of  personal  benefit,  in  one  form  or  another,  is  the 
mainspring  of  all  human  effort,  whether  in  regard  to  the  interests 
of  time  or  the  destinies  of  eternity  ;  and  they  only  are  not  influ- 
enced by  such  considerations,  whose  rational  powers  are  so  far 
obliterated  that  they  are  not  accounted  responsible  to  either  divine 
or  human  law.  The  provision  in  a  system  of  rewards  for  prisons, 
which  I  should  place  second  in  its  power  of  beneficial  influence, 
would  be  that  which  grants  to  the  industrious  aud  well-behaved 
convict  a  certain  share — be  the  same  less  or  more — of  his  pecu- 
niary earnings;  and  the  third,  such  special  privileges  and  indul- 
gences as  may,  considering  the  end  in  view  and  their  adaptation  to 
promote  it,  be  deemed  wise  and  proper.  Combine,  in  due  pro- 
portion and  under  judicious  limitations,  these  three  elements — 
diminution  of  sentence,  participation  in  earnings,  and  certain  well- 
defined  privileges — and  you  have  inaugurated  a  system  which  will 
revolutionize  both  the  theory  and  practice  of  prison  discipline, 
and  make  prisons  what  they  are  sometimes  claimed,  and  always 
ought,  to  be — moral  hospitals,  aiming  at  and,  to  an  extent  beyond 
what  would  now  be  credited,  eflecting  the  cure  of  their  inmates. 

"In  administering  the  discipline  of  the  Missouri  state  peniten- 
tiary (Mr.  Miller  proceeds  to  say),  I  discarded  much  of  the  old 
theory  of  prison  discipline,  and  substituted  in  its  place  what  I 
conceived  to  be  the  dictates  of  common  sense,  justice,  and  human- 
ity. The  tendency  of  prison  life,  even  under  the  most  favorable 
circumstances,  is  to  foster  feelings  of  sadness  and  despondency, 
and  to  break  down  the  mental  and  physical  energies  of  the  pris- 
oner. A  short  time  suffices  for  this,  if  the  harsh  and  unnatural 
system  is  adhered  to,  which  imposes  perfect  and  perpetual  silence, 
forbids  all  social  intercourse,  and  denies  all  recreation  to  the 
imprisoned.  On  entering  the  prison,  the  convict  is  clothed  in  a 
unifonn  which  serves  to  remind  him,  at  every  turn,  of  his  degra- 
dation. He  is  marched  to  the  workshop  in  the  morning,  where  he 
labors  in  silence  till  noon;  then  to  the  mess-room,  where  he  par- 
takes in  silence  of  a  coarse  repast;  then  back  to  the  workshop, 
where  he  continues  his  silent  toil  till  night;  and  then  to  his 
prison-house,  where  he  is  locked  up  in  a  cheerless  cell;  to  be  called 
forth  again  in  the  morning  to  the  same  unvarying  round  of  silent 
labor,  silent  marchings,  and  silent  meals.  There  is  no  relaxation, 
no  recreation,  no  variety  in  his  occupations;  and,  in  the  long  vista 
of  the  future,  he  sees  nothing  before  him  but  the  same  intermin- 
able and  oppressive  monotony.     Meanwhile,  thoughts  of  home 


UNITED  STATES  AND  CANADA. 


159 


and  friends  and  family,  and  the  sense  of  his  own  disgrace,  come 
to  worry  and  oppress  him;  and  he  finds  no  peace  of  mind  by  day 
or  by  night.  He  unconsciously  lapses  into  a  state  of  melancholj'', 
which  he  has  neither  the  courage  to  resist  nor  the  energy  to  over- 
come. In  my  administration  of  the  prison,  it  was  my  constant 
aim  to  mitigate,  as  far  as  was  consistent  with  good  order  and 
proper  subordination,  this  terrible  evil.  To  this  end  I  permitted 
(to  the  dcseiTing)  conversation  and  social  intercourse  to  a  certain 
extent,  and  allowed  the  use  of  magazines  and  even  newspapers. 
1  uniformly  gave  them  the  privilege  of  the  yard  on  the  fourth  of 
July,  Thanksgiving,  and  Christmas.  To  the  well  behaved  and 
worthy,  the  same  privilege  was  frequently  extended  on  the  Sab- 
bath day  also,  when  the  weather  was  such  as  to  warrant  it;  and 
this  in  all  seasons  of  the  year.  The  Sabbath  day  they  ever  ob- 
seiTed  in  the  most  becoming  manner,  sitting  quietly  and  convers- 
ing in  subdued  tones,  without  boisterousness  or  disorder  of  any 
kind.  On  the  other  occasions  named — the  public  holidays — they 
amused  themselves  with  theatrical  performances,  dinner  parties, 
and  a  variety  of  athletic  diversions.  Not  a  solitary  breach  of  de- 
corum, that  I  remember,  ever  occurred  on  these  occasions,  and  I 
know  the  result  was  to  make  the  men  more  contented  and  cheer- 
ful, as  well  as  more  industrious  and  obedient.  They  felt  better, 
worked  better,  and  behaved  better  in  all  respects.  It  was  often 
remarked  by  intelligent  strangers,  who  had  visited  prisons  in  other 
states,  that  the  convicts  in  this  prison  were  the  most  cheerful  look- 
ing they  had  ever  seen.  And  why  was  this  ?  Simply  because 
they  were  treated  like  men;  because  they  were  taught  to  believe 
themselves  men,  and,  as  such,  to  cherish  still  a  feeling  of  self- 
respect;  because  they  were  urged  to  regard  themselves,  despite 
their  imprisonment  as  criminals,  as  a  part  of  the  great  world,  and 
to  recognize  the  just  demands  of  society  upon  them,  not  only 
while  here,  but  after  they  should  return  to  it.  How  far  such 
teaching  was  successful  may  be  inferred,  in  part,  from  the  fact 
that  they  made,  in  their  own  time,  fancy  articles  to  the  value  of 
several  hundred  dollars,  to  be  sold  at  a  fair  for  the  benefit  of  the 
poor  of  Jefferson  city,  and  they  made  a  like  donation  to  a  fair  for 
the  relief  of  sick  and  wounded  soldiers  in  the  Union  armies.  It 
may  be  inferred  from  an  incident  that  occuiTed  on  a  certain  fourth 
of  July,  when  the  prisoners,  while  enjoying  their  holiday,  as  usual, 
in  the  prison  yard,  having  learned  from  one  of  their  number  who 
had  been  at  work  outside  the  walls  the  case  of  a  poor  widow  and 


160 


PRISONS  AND  BEFOBMATORIBS  OF  THE 


her  children,  who  had  found  shelter  in  a  shed  near  the  prison, 
inamediately  (leave  having  been  first  obtained)  raised  by  contri- 
bution among  themselves  a  considerable  sum  of  money,  and 
deputed  one  of  the  officers  to  deliver  it  to  her  in  their  name.  It 
may  be  inferred  from  the  fact  that  on  many  occasions  they  con- 
tributed small  sums  to  enable  fellow-prisoners,  on  their  liberation, 
to  reach  their  friends  in  distant  states.  It  may  be  inferred  still 
more  strongly  from  the  little  history  which  I  will  immediately 
relate.  On  one  occasion,  five  of  the  convicts  were  on  the  prison 
steamboat,  being  employed  as  firemen,  engineer,  and  pilot.  On 
the  voyage  the  boat  fell  into  the  hands  of  bushwhackers,  and  the 
captain  was  killed.  The  convicts  were  offered  arms  and  horses,  if 
they  would  join  the  murderers.  To  a  man  they  refused,  remained 
at  their  posts,  and  brought  back  the  boat,  with  the  dead  body  of 
the  murdered  captain.  Very  properly,  as  I  think,  the  governor 
rewarded  their  fidelity  by  pardoning  the  whole  of  them.  I  men- 
tion these  things  more  to  give  an  inside  view  of  the  prison  and 
to  vindicate  my  treatment  of  the  prisoners,  than  from  any  desire  to 
parade  them  before  the  public,  although  I  think  that  it  will  do 
the  public  no  harm  to  know  them." 

In  our  opinion,  the  importance  of  a  skillfully  devised  system  of 
rewards  in  prisons  can  scarcely  be  over  estimated.  These  should 
be,  as  far  as  possible;  natural  rather  than  artificial, — the  legitimate 
fruit  of  good  actions.  So  arranged,  they  will  be  found,  in  the 
great  majority  of  cases,  to  have  a  salutary  and  powerful  effect; 
and  they  would,  in  all  likelihood,  under  a  just  administration, 
render  punishments  almost  unnecessary.  It  is  of  great  import- 
ance to  maintain,  as  far  as  may  be,  a  spirit  of  cheerfulness  among 
the  inmates  of  a  prison.  Little  improvement,  ment"^  '>r  moral, 
can  be  looked  for  when  a  prisoner  is  in  a  dull  and  g  \y  state, 
and  there  is  even  danger  that,  in  such  a  frame,  aa  will  become 
more  hardened  and  depraved.  Much  may,  doubtless,  be  done 
towards  promoting  cheerfulness  by  furnishing  prisoners  with 
entertaining  and  useful  books,  by  speaking  to  them  in  a  friendly 
manner,  and  by  general  kind  treatment.  But  all  this  falls  short 
of  what  is  necessary  to  the  full  realization  of  the  end  in  view. 
Nothing  will  contribute  so  directly  and  strongly  to  the  result 
aimed  at  as  a  judicious  and  natural  system  of  rewards,  wisely 
and  faithfully  administered.  This  will  give  to  the  prisoners,  as 
nothing  else  will  or  can,  the  element  of  hope;  and  certainly  unless 
a  prisoner  has  hope  for  himself,  no  one  can  have  hope  for  him. 


UNITED  STATES  AND  CANADA. 


161 


We  fully  agree  to  the  conclusion  reached  by  the  Committee  of 
the  British  House  of  Commons  on  Prison  Discipline  in  1850,  an- 
nounced in  these  words:  "  The  Committee  concurs  with  some  of 
the  most  experienced  witnesses  they  have  examined,  in  the  opinion 
that  the  majority  of  convicted  prisoners  are  open  to  the  same 
good  motives  and  good  impulses,  which  influence  other  human 
beings;  and  therefore  that  a  system  of  encouragement  to  good 
conduct,  and  endeavors  to  inspire  feelings  of  self-respect,  self- 
reliance,  and  hopefulness  for  the  future,  which  have  been  tried 
in  some  of  our  largest  establishments,  ouglht  to  be  adopted  as  far 
as  is  practicable  without  impairing  the  penal  and  deterring  char- 
acter essential  to  any  system  of  imprisonment." 

Among  the  questions  addressed  by  the  undersigned  to  the 
superintendents  of  state  prisons  is  the  following:  "Are  any  special 
privileges  accorded  to  convicts  on  public  holidays,  and  if  so, 
what  are  they,  and  with  what  results  have  they  bee«i  attended?" 
In  nearly  all  the  prisons,  the  convicts  have  a  better  dinner  than 
ordinary  on  the  Fourth  of  July,  Thanksgiving,  and  Christmas; 
and  in  some,  even  luxuries  are  provided,  such  as  turkey,  oysters, 
mince  pies,  cake,  «fec.  Beyond  this,  in  the  great  majority,  no 
special  privileges  are  accorded  on  the  occasion  of  public  holi- 
days. In  the  three  state  prisons  of  New  York,  some  little 
indulgence  is  granted  on  the  Fourth  in  the  way  of  hurrahing, 
singing,  shouting  to  one  another  from  cell  to  cell,  and  patriotic 
speech-making  to  invisible  audiences.  As  to  the  effects:  One 
warden  says  that  he  sees  no  bad  results  from  this  license;  another, 
that  his  mind  is  not  made  up  on  that  point;  and  the  third, 
that  the  effect  is  good  on  the  majority,  but  bad  on  others, 
in  whose  case  an  increased  amount  of  punishment  becomes 
necessary  for  some  days.  In  addition  to  the  license  thus  granted, 
in  Clinton  prison  it  is  customary,  on  the  4th  of  July,  to  dress  the 
chapel  in  green,  to  have  the  prisoners  assembled  there,  and  a 
patriotic  address  delivered  to  them.  The  same  was  done  at  Au- 
burn last  year,  and  on  each  annual  thanksgiving  in  that  prison, 
the  prisoners  meet  in  the  chapel,  and  the  chaplain  delivers  an  ad- 
dress to  them.  A  license,  similar  to  that  accorded  in  New  York, 
is  granted  to  the  convicts  in  the  state  prison  of  Northern  Indiana 
on  the  4th  of  July  and  Christmas,  viz:  to  talk,  sing,  shout,  &c. 
the  effect  is  considered  good  on  the  whole.  In  the  Maine  state 
prison,  on  one  occasion,  the  warden  says,  a  turkey  dinner  was  given 

to  the  prisoners  in  a  hall  together,  and  after  dinner  they  wera 
[Assem.  No.  35. j  II 


]62 


PRISONS  AND  REFORMATORIES  OF  THE 


allowed  an  hour  for  converaation  and  amusement  in  the  prison 
yard.  The  effect  upon  the  men  is  stated  by  him  to  have  been 
veiy  good.  Why  an  indulgence,  attended  with  such  beneficial  re- 
sults, was  not  repeated,  we  are  unable  to  say.  There  are  but 
three  state  prisons  in  the  United  states,  so  far  as  we  are  informed, 
in  which  the  ciuttom  prevails  of  unifoimly  granting  special  privi- 
leges on  public  holidays,  viz:  Michigan,  Missouri,  and  Massachu- 
setts. Mr.  Seaton,  the  late  warden  of  the  first  named  of  these 
prisons,  says  that  for  the  last  teu  years  the  convicts  there  have 
been  allowed  half  a  day  on  the  4th  of  July  and  Christmas,  for 
holiday,  with  very  beneficial  results;  so  that  Michigan  appears  to 
have  led  the  way  in  this  usage.  Mr.  S.  does  not  state  the  nature 
of  the  amusements  in  which  the  prisoners  indulge  on  these  occa- 
sions, nor  where  the  indulgence  is  granted,  whether  in  the  prison 
yard  or  in  the  cells.  His  statement  would  have  been  more  satis- 
factory, had  it  included  these  particulars,  as  well  as  the  general 
fact.  Full  information  in  regard  to  all  matters  connected  with 
these  holiday  indulgences  and  amusements  in  the  Missouri  state 
penitentiary  has  already  been  given  in  an  extract  from  a  paper  by 
the  late  warden  of  the  penitentiary,  Mr.  Miller,  inserted  in  a  pre- 
vious paragraph.  To  the  very  interesting  statement  on  that  sub- 
ject, therein  contained,  the  reader  is  referred;  a  repetition  is  not 
deemed  necessary. 

But  it  is  in  Massachusetts  that  such  holiday  privileges  have,  of 
late,  been  most  consistently  employed.  Here  they  have  been  re- 
duced to  something  like  a  system.  Since  1863,  on  every  public 
holiday,  including  even  the  national  thanksgivings  and  fasts  appoint- 
ed by  the  President  of  the  United  States  during  the  late  rebellion, 
Mr.  Haynes  has  allowed  to  the  convicts  in  the  Charlestowu  prison 
an  hour  and  a  half  of  unrestricted  intercourse  and  recreation  in 
the  prison  yard.  Since  this  custom  was  first  introduced,  the  pris- 
oners have  enjoyed  from  fifteen  to  eighteen  of  these  (to  them)  fes- 
tive occasions.  On  visiting  the  prison  in  our  capacity  of  commis- 
sioners of  the  Prison  Association,  in  order  to  aflbrd  us  an  oppor- 
tunity of  witnessing  for  ourselves  the  conduct  and  recreations  of 
the  convicts,  when  thus  let  loose  to  enjoy  an  hour  of  unrestricted 
freedom  together,  Mr.  Haynes  gave  them  an  extra  indulgence  of 
this  kind.  The  exhibition  w{*s  as  gratifying  as  it  was  novel,  and 
impressed  itself  indelibly  upon  our  memory.  Some  five  hundred 
convicted  felons  were  turned  out  in  the  prison  yard,  with  a  score 
or  two  of  unarmed  prison  officers  present,  less  to  guard  than  to 


UNITED  STATES  AND   CANADA. 


163 


superintend  them,  during  their  season  of  recreation.  The  prison- 
ers,  summoned  from  their  workshops  at  five  o'clock,  P.  M.,  came 
marching  in  their  military  step,  each  company  under  its  own  turn- 
key, and  formed  themselves  in  a  hollow  square,  with  the  officers 
and  visitors  in  the  centre.  After  a  brief  address  by  the  w^arden, 
the  word  was  uttered,  which  gave  back  to  them  one  short  hour  of 
liberty.  That  word  was  like  an  electric  current  let  into  their 
soulir.  Joy  swelled  every  bosom;  gladness  was  depicted  on  every 
countenance.  Their  first  movement  was  to  rush,  as  it  were,  into 
each  others  arms,  friend  embracing  friend,  hand  chisping  hand  in 
the  strong  grasp  of  manly  affection,  and  tongues  and  lips,  long  un- 
used to  speech,  once  again  using  their  powers  in  accents  of  friend- 
ly greeting  and  mutual  endearment.  These  recognitions  were,  in 
many  cases,  of  men  working  in  the  same  shop,  and  perhaps  side 
by  side,  yet  interdicted  from  all  free  intercourse  (the  furtive  can- 
not be  wholly  prevented)  by  the  law  of  perpetual  silence,  enjoined 
by  the  prison  rules.  After  these  greetings,  apparently  and  no 
doubt  really  so  warm  and  cordial,  were  over,  the  prisoners  separa- 
ted into  groups, — some  quietly  engaging  in  conversation,  some 
walking  back  and  forth,  some  playing  football,  quoits  and  other 
athletic  games,  and  some  "  tripping  the  light  fantastic  toe  •'  to  the 
sound  of  the  violin  ;  but  all  brimfuU  of  quiet  or  hilarious  enjoy- 
ment. We  mingled  freely  with  the  convicts  and  conversed,  per- 
haps, with  scores  of  them  during  the  hour  ;  praise  of  their  kind 
and  excellent  warden  being  uppermost  on  all  lips.  No  equal  com- 
pany of  gentlemen — we  say  it  in  the  certainty  of  speaking  within 
the  strict  limits  of  truth — could  have  behaved  with  more  decorum 
and  propriety  than  these  (temporarily)  liberated  felons.  On  th«3 
signal  being  given  at  six  o'clock,  with  ready  promptness  the  con- 
convicts  formed  themselves  into  the  same  hollow  square  from 
which  they  had  been  dismissed,  and  marched  to  their  cells,  receiv- 
ing their  suppers  by  the  way,  made  happy  by  the  hour's  enjoy- 
ment, so  unexpectedly  as  well  as  kindly  granted  them.  At  the 
annual  meeting  of  the  American  Association  for  the  promotion  of 
social  science ,  held  at  New  Haven,  Conn.,  in  October  last,  Mr. 
Haynes  read  a  well  written  and  most  interesting  paper  on  "Holi- 
days in  Prisons,"  in  which  he  gave  a  detailed  account  of  the  intro- 
duction of  the  system  into  the  Charlestown  prison,  and  sketched 
its  history  there  down  to  that  time.  He  claimed  for  it  very  great 
advantages  to  the  convicts  everyway,  physical,  mental  and  mural. 


164 


PRISONS  AND   REFORMATORIES  OF  TBI 


He  averred  that  it  had  been  attended  with  the  most  hnppy  and 
encoiiruging  results.  Fewer  punishments,  greater  cheerfuhicss, 
better  health,  diminished  tendency  to  insanity,  increased  alacrity 
in  labor,  and  a  more  careful  observance  of  prison  rules,  particu- 
larly that  which  enjoins  silence  and  non-intercourse,  were  among 
the  good  effects  claimed  for  it.  He  insisted  that  it  might  be  made 
an  effective  instrument  of  discipline,  by  limiting  the  enjoyment  of 
the  privilege  to  those  who  should  have  deserved  it  by  their  good 
conduct,  just  as  a  reduction  of  sentence  must  be  so  earned.  Thus 
far,  as  we  understand  the  matter,  it  has  not  been  so  employed,  but 
is  extended  indiscriminately  to  the  whole  body  of  prisoners.  We 
agree  with  Mr.  Haynes  in  the  opinion  that  such  seasons  of  indul- 
gence and  recreation  might  be  utilized  as  a  means  of  promoting 
order  and  obedience  in  prisons.  But  it  is  manifest  that,  to  that 
end,  they  must  be  made  much  more  frequent  than  they  now  arc  ; 
that  they  mu.st  recur  at  fixed  and  not  very  distant  points  of  time ; 
and  that  they  must  be  subjected  to  a  complete  code  of  rules  and 
regulations,  within  whose  wisely  adjusted  and  well  understood  en- 
closures the  whole  system  must  be  worked.  Let  these  occasions 
of  recreation  and  regulated  intercourse  occur  weekly,  and  none  be 
permitted  to  enjoy  them  but  those  who  have  fairly  merited  the 
indulgence  by  a  conduct  absolutely  free  from  blameworthiness,  and 
we  believe  that  scarcely  any  agency  could  be  devised  more  pow- 
erful both  in  its  quickening  and  restraining  influence  upon  the  in- 
mates of  our  prisons.  We  understood  Mr.  Haynes  to  say  that 
even  the  contractors  in  his  prison  were  so  impressed  with  the  spirit 
and  vigor  it  had  infused  into  the  labor  of  the  men,  that  they  had 
expressed  a  willingness  to  give  up  an  hour  each  week  for  the  pur- 
pose, adding  the  conviction  that  they  would  find  their  account  in 
it.  Mr.  Haynes  is  therefore  clearly  the  man  to  try  the  expeiimcut, 
and  he  is  as  clearly  surrounded  by  the  conditions  for  a  fair  trial. 
We  have  no  doubt  that  the  experiment  in  his  hands  would  be  at- 
tended with  satisfactory  results,  and  would  bear  precious  fruit  be- 
yond the  limits  of  his  own  institution. 

The  punishments  employed  in  the  prisons  of  the  United  States 
and  Canada,  in  the  enforcement  of  the  rules  of  order,  are  various; 
most  of  which,  but  not  all,  are  unobjectionable  on  the  score  of 
humanity.  On  this  point,  some  detail  will  probable  be  acceptable 
to  those  of  our  readers  who,  whether  law-makers  or  prison  offi- 
cers, will  be  likely  to  take  the  deepest  interest  in  the  matters  em- 
braced in  this  report.    The  punishmenti^  employed  in  Connecticut 


at- 


TTMITBD  STATES  AKD  CANADA. 


165 


are  the  lash,  dark  cell  and  loss  of  commutation;  in  Indiana,  the 
lash,  shockleH,  loss  of  time  earned  and  privation  of  the  privilege 
fit  sending  and  receiving  letters  to  and  from  friends;  in  Kentucky, 
the  lash  and  dark  cell;  in  Maine,  the  dark  cell  with  bread  and 
water,  the  lash  never  being  used,  though  not  prohibited  by  law; 
in  Massachusetts,  solitary  confinement  in  dark  cell,  and  substitu> 
tion  of  bread  and  water  for  the  ordinary  ration;  in  Michigan,  the 
lash,  dark  cell  with  broad  and  water,  and  ball  and  chain;  in  Mis- 
souri, the  lash,  dark  cell,  and  occasionally  shaving  the  head  on 
one  side;  in  New  Hampshire,  solitary  continement  in  dark  cell,  the 
lash  never  being  used,  though  not  forbidden  by  law;  in  Ohio, 
dark  cell  without  bed  and  a  diet  of  bread  and  water;  in  Pennsyl- 
vania, the  withholding  of  rations,  stoppage  of  correspondence, 
forfeiture  of  the  use  of  the  library  or  exercising  yard,  deprivation 
of  the  visits  of  the  teacher,  and  shutting  up  in  dark  cell  with  a 
ration  of  bread  and  water  once  a  day,  without  bedding  other  than 
a  single  blanket,  and  the  addition  of  irons  in  cases  of  desperate 
refractoriness;  in  Rhode  Island,  solitary  continement  in  the  dun- 
geon; in  Vermont,  the  dungeon,  confinement  in  their  own  cells, 
iron  jacket,  ball  and  chain,  stoppage  of  correspondence,  privation 
of  bed  and  particular  kinds  of  food,  and,  in  rare  cases,  the  lash; 
in  Wisconsin,  solitary  confinement  in  the  convict's  own  cell  or  the 
dungeon,  forfeiture  of  commutation,  privation  of  food,  light,  books, 
papers,  and  correspondence  with  friends, — the  lash,  though  not 
prohibited  by  law,  being  never  used;  in  Canada,  an  extra  amount 
of  labor,  privation  of  bed,  a  diet  of  bread  and  water,  confinement 
in  ordinary  cell  or  dark  cell,  hampering  with  a  chain,  cropping 
the  hair  (a  female  punishment),  the  switch  (used  in  punishing 
boys),  and  the  "cat;"  and  in  New  York,  the  shower-bath,  daii, 
cell,  ball  and  chain,  shaving  the  head,  iron  cap,  bucking,  and  the 
yoke  or  crucifix. 

From  the  foregoing  statement  it  appears  that,  of  the  states 
enumerated,  six  still  employ  the  punishment  of  the  lash  in  their 
state  prisons;  that  Canada  does  the  same;  and  that  New  York, 
discarding  the  lash,  makes  use  of  three  other  punishments,  not 
elsewhere  employed,  viz:  the  shower  bath,  the  crucifix,  and  buck- 
ing. Shaving  the  head,  so  common  in  former  times,  is  still  occa- 
sionally— we  are  glad  to  say  not  often — resorted  to  in  the  Mis- 
souri state  penitentiary  and  in  the  Clinton  and  Sing  Sing  prisons 
of  New  York;  in  the  latter,  it  is  said,  only  in  cases  of  revolt. 
This  punishment  is  objectionable,  not  so  much  on  the  score  of  iuhu- 


166 


PRISONS  AND  REFORMATORIES  OF  THE 


manity,  as  because  it  wounds  the  self-respect  of  prisoners — de* 
grades  thom  in  their  own  estimation.     It  is  felt  as  an  ignominy, 
and  is  intensely  hated.    Punishment  by  the  crucifix  and  by  buck- 
ing we  regard  as  at  once  cruel  and  degrading,  and  would  have 
them  bonished  from  all   prisons   in  aaecida  saeculorum.      The 
shower  bath  has  been  characterized  as  "  a  relic  of  barbarism,  a 
connecting  link  between  the  outrages  of  the  inquisition  and  the 
inhumanities  of  the  slave-pen,  a  process  of  gradual  strangulation 
by  drowning,  whoso  existence  is  a  blot  upon  the  fair  escutcheon 
of  our  state."     Let  it  go  with  the  others  to  the  tomb  of  the  Cnpu- 
lets.     They  are  all  imworthy  of  a  christian  people,  unworthy  of 
the  civilization  of  the  nineteenth  century.     But  the  most  objec- 
tionable of  the  modes  of  punishment  enumerated  is,  in  our  judg- 
ment, the  lash;  especially  when  it  takes  the  form,  as  in  the  pro- 
vincial penitentiary  of  Canada,  of  that  terrible  instrument  of  tor- 
ture and  degradation,  the  *'  cat."     This  punishment,  in  the  prison 
named,  is,  moreover,  administered  at  a  time,  in  a  place,  and  under 
circumstances,  which  intensify  our  horror  of  it.     It  is  inflicted  in 
the  mess-room,  immediately  after  dinner,  and  in  the  presence  of 
the  whole  body  of  convicts,  the  entire  prison    staff,   and  any 
strangers  who  may  happen  to  be  present.     Could  any  condition, 
any  set  of  circumstances,  be  contrived  or  imagined,  more  calcu- 
lated to  produce  feelings  at  once  of  degradation,  anger,  revenge, 
and  especially  of  an  obstinate  and  insane  bravado?    Not  long 
before  our  visit — so  we  were  informed — a  very  bad  convict,  for 
some  offence  of  uimsual  gravity,  received  one   of  the   severest 
flagellations  ever  given  in  the  prison.     As  the  terrific  instrument 
came  down  in  successive  blows,  at  each  stroke  tearing  and  mang- 
ling his  flesh,  he  uttered  no  groan,  moved  no  muscle,  gave  no 
token  of  suffering,  but  stood  calm,   erect,  and  proudly  defiant. 
The  prisoners  watched  the  process  Avith  breathless  interest,  and 
when  the  last  stroke  had  fallen,   an  involuntary  and  audible 
"  bravo!"  burst  from  the  vast  congregation  of  felons,  in  irrepres- 
sible admiration  of  what  they  looked  upon  as  an  instance  of  heroic 
fortitude.    'Can  punishments  like  this  produce  any  salutary  effect? 
It  is,  indeed,  possible  to  subdue  a  man,  to  break  his  spirit,  to  pro- 
duce prompt  and  unqualified  submission,  by  flogging,  but  it  is  not 
possible  to  improve  him  morally  by  such  a  punishment.     It  ex- 
cites no  healing  emotions,  and  offers  no  motive  adapted  to  amend 
the  character,  or  calculated  to  deter  permanently  from  the  com- 
mission of  crime.    The  lash,  by  a  fixed  law,  opposes  itself  to 


the 


TJNITBD  STATES  AMD  CANADA. 


16T 


the  operation  of  those  moral  and  religious  agencies,  which 
experience  has  shown  to  be  most  efficacious  in  the  recovery 
of  the  fallen  and  the  redemption  of  the  lost.  In  many  conTicts, 
punishment  by  scourging  excites  an  undying  hate.  It  is  an  indig- 
nity oftcred  to  their  manhood,  which  they  can  never  overlook, 
never  sink  in  oblivion.  This  fact  receives  confirmation  and  illus- 
tration from  the  remark  once  made  by  a  convict  to  his  chaplain, 
who  was  urging  him  to  a  better  spirit.  Said  he:  **  Sir,  six  years 
ago,  I  was  flogged  in  this  prison;  I  have  the  marks  of  the  lash 
still  on  my  body;  when  those  marks  wear  out,  I  shall  forget  and 
forgive  it."  "We  say,  then,  let  the  lash  go,  with  the  shower  bath, 
the  crucifix,  the  buck,  and  all  other  punishments  that  are  either 
cruel  or  degrading,  into  utter  and  perpetual  disuse  as  an  instru- 
ment of  discipline  in  our  prisons.  Are  there  superintendents  of 
prisons  who  say,  "  How  shall  we  govern  our  men  without  at  least 
some  of  the  sterner  means  of  repression?"  To  such  we  would 
say,  go  to  Massachusetts  and  learn.  At  Charlestown,  you  will  see 
a  prison  under  as  thorough  and  efficient  discipline  as  any  on  the 
American  continent,  a  prison  where  the  convicts  do  as  much  work 
as  any  equal  number  of  men  outside,  with  but  one  punishment, 
and  that  seldom  resorted  to, — simple  confinement  in  a  dark  cell 
on  a  ration  of  bread  and  water.  And  what  is  the  secret  of  a 
government  so  successful,  with  so  little  that  is  coercive  in  its  dis- 
cipline? Just  that  the  manhood  of  the  convicts  is  respected;  that, 
and  nothing  more.  In  Massachusetts,  the  lash  has  not  been  em- 
ployed for  the  last  ten  years.  It  is  true  that  it  is  now  prohibited 
by  law;  but  its  use  was  given  up  four  years  prior  to  the  passage 
of  the  act  forbidding  it.  There  are  four  states  besides  Massachu- 
setts— Maine,  New  Hampshire,  Ohio,  and  Rhode  Island — in  which 
no  other  punishment  is  employed  than  solitary  confinement  in  a 
dark  cell.  In  all  these  states,  the  discipline  of  the  prisons  is  quite 
as  eflective  as  it  is  in  prisons  where  more  severe  and  coercive  mea- 
sures are  employed.  There  are  three  states — Maine,  New  Hamp- 
shire and  Wisconsin —  in  which  the  lash  is  never  used,  though  no 
statute  forbids  it. 

The  wardens  of  the  several  state  prisons  were  interrogated  as 
to  the  kinds  of  punishment  which  they  found  most  effectual  in 
subduing  the  refractory  and  securing  the  observance  of  the  rules 
of  order  in  their  respective  institutions.  With  two  exceptions, 
they  declare  that  the  dark  cell  with  a  diet  of  bread  and  water  is 
most  efficacious  as  a  means  of  discipline,  especially  when,   as 


168 


PBISOirS  ARD  RirORMATOBIBS  OF  TBI 


is  tho  case  in  Wisconsin,  this  punishment  oamos  ivith  it  tho  loss 
of  fivo  days  of  commutation,  previously  earned  by  good  conduct, 
and  of  course  lengthens  to  that  extent  the  duration  of  their  im- 
prisonment.  This  unanimity  is  as  gratifying  as  it  is  remarkable, 
and,  of  itself,  ought  to  be  decisive  against  the  use  of  the  more 
sternly  coercive  measures.  The  two  exceptious  referred  to  are 
Mr.  WiHurd,  of  the  Connecticut  state  prison,  and  Mr.  Wood,  of 
the  state  prison  of  Northern  Indiana.  Mr.  Willard  suys:  "  Both 
these  punishments  [meaning  the  solitary  cell  and  the  lash,  which 
are  the  only  punishments  used  in  his  prison]  are  good,  when 
properly  used."  Mr.  Wood  unhesitatingly  and  boldly  affirms: 
*'Tho  lash  is  the  most  effective  punishment,  when  used  with  judg< 
ment  and  discretion."  He  adds  (and  we  cite  the  words  because 
we  do  not  wish  to  do  him  the  slightest  injustice):  "A  man  is 
never  sentenced  here  to  receive  a  specified  number  of  lashes,  but 
is  only  punished  till  he  is  conquered  or  promises  amendment." 

We  must  put  in  our  earnest  caveat  against  the  want  of  ventila- 
tion, which  we  found  almost  universal  in  the  dark  cells.  This 
must  be  very  prejudicial  to  the  health  of  the  persons  confined  in 
them,  and  can  scarcely  be  regarded  otherwise  than  as  a  cruel 
addition  to  their  punishment. 

We  put  the  question,  *•  What  is  the  relative  power  of  kindness 
and  severity  as  instruments  of  discipline?"  and  wo  regret  that  we 
are  unable  to  report  an  equal  unanimity  in  the  responses  on  this 
point  as  on  that  treated  of  in  the  last  paragraph.  Still,  those 
wardens  who  have  most  systematically  and  intelligently  employed, 
and  most  confided  in,  the  method  of  kindness,  to  tho  exclusion, 
as  far  as  possible,  of  that  severity,  bear  ample  and  gratifying 
testimony  in  favor  of  the  superior  efficacy  of  the  foniier  over  the 
latter  method.  Mr.  Haynes,  of  Massachusetts,  says:  "Kindness 
is  the  principal  means  of  discipline  employed,  and  it  is  used  in 
every  consistent  way.  We  think  that  the  superior  excellence  of 
this  method  lies  in  this,  that  it  renders  the  convicts  more  obedient, 
more  confiding,  more  cheerful,  more  industrious,  and  more  suscep- 
tible, every  way,  to  reformatory  influences,  ^severity  is  thought 
to  subdue  and  brutalize,  but  kindness  to  soften  and  reform."  Mr. 
Seaton,  of  Michigan,  testifies:  "^With  most  convicts,  kind- 
ness is  by  far  the  best  discipline."  Mr.  Miller,  of  Missouri, 
says:  "Kindness  is  more  powerful  by  far,  as  a  means  of  dis- 
cipline, than  severity ;  and  its  effects  are  more  enduring. 
Justice,  tempered  with  mercy,  will  break  down  the  most  stubborn 
nature.    While  an  officer  should  manifest  no  pleasure  in  the 


jnmm  itatis  akd  oanada. 


160 


infliction  of  punishment,  he  should  not  shrink  from  it  when 
clearly  necessary;  yet  he  should  over  punish  more  "  in  sorrow 
than  in  anger;"  and  this  should  be  so  evident  that  the  convict 
uould  not  fail  to  perceive  and  acknowledge  it."  Mr.  Cordior,  of 
Wisconsin,  affirms:  "Kindness  as  a  means  of  discipline  is  more 
ufToctivo  than  severity,  which  is  apt  to  harden  prisoners  and 
render  them  worse  than  before." 

In  the  state  prison  of  Ohio  the  punishments  arc  reported,  in 
general  terms,  as  •'  rather  frequent ;"  but  neither  in  the  communi- 
cation made  to  us  by  the  warden  nor  in  the  annual  reports  of  the 
institution  is  there  any  definite  statement  from  which  we  learn  the 
absolute  number  or  the  percentage  of  these  inflictions.    In  refer- 
ence to  all  the  other  prisons  in  the  United  States,  from  which  we 
have  received  answers  to  our  questions,  the  statement  is  that  pun- 
ishments are  ••  infrequent,"  or  ••  very  infrequent."     A  few  of  the 
wardens  give  us  more  speciflo  information.     In  Massachusetts, 
with  about  five  hundred  prisoners,  •'  there  are,  perhaps,  four  cases 
a  week  requiring  punishment;"  that  is,  four-fifths  of  one  per  cent 
weekly,  or  a  fraction  over  three  per  cent  monthly.     The  late  war- 
den of  the  Missouri  state  penitentiary,  under  date  of  December, 
18G4,  says  in  his  annual  report:  "From  the  date  of  my  commis- 
sion as  warden  up  to  the  date  of  my  first  report,  a  period  of  fif- 
teen months,  punishment  was  inflicted  in  one  hundred  and  forty- 
six  cases.     From  the  date  of  my  first  report  up  to  this  time,  a 
period  of  two  years,  only  one  hundred  and  two  offenses,  consid- 
ered worthy  of  punishment,  have  been  committed.     This  very 
gratifying  decrease  of  bad  conduct,  or,  more  properly,  increase 
of  good  conduct,  cannot  be  attributed  to  any  failure  to  punish 
ofienses  against  good  order  when  they  occur,  but  rather  to  the 
fact  that  the  convicts  have  had  time  to  study  and  understand  the 
system  of  government  brought  to  bear  upon  them,  and  have 
availed  themselves  of  its  advantages."    The  average  number  of 
convicts  during  these  two  years  was  about  four  hundred,  which  is 
a  little  more  than  one  per  cent  a  month  of  punishments.     In  the 
Wisconsin  state  prison  the  average  number  of  convicts  in  1865 
was  one  hundred  and  ten,  and  the  number  of  punishments  nine- 
teen, just  about  one  and  a  half  per  cent  a  month.    It  will  be 
interesting  to  give  the  exact  punishments  awarded  here,  in  the 
words  of  the  commissioner,  as  showing  the  adaptation  of  each  (so 
far  as  that  could  be)  to  the  offense  for  which  it  was  inflicted : 
•'Seven  were  punished,  for  various  offenses,  by  being  put  into 
the  dungeon;  three  were  deprived  of  the  use  of  the  library  for 


170 


PRISONS  AND  BEFOBHATORIBS  OF  THB 


injuring  their  books;  two,  of  their  lighta  for  soiling  the  cell;  one, 
of  his  correspondence  for  writing  on  improper  subjects;  two,  of 
their  food  for  leaving  bread  in  the  cells;  and  four  more,  for  other 
small  offences."    The  minimum  of  punishment  in  the  penitentiaries 
of  the  United  States  appears  to  be  found  in  the  state  prison  of 
Maine,  where,  with  an  average  of  nearly  one  hundred  prisoners, 
the  punishments  are  less  than  one  per  mouth;  yet  the  discipline 
there,  tliough  mild  and  depending  almost  wholly  on  moral  forces, 
is  sufficiently  effective;  and  the  able  bodied  convicts  do  an  amount 
of  work  equal  to  what  would  be  done  by  the  same  number  of  men 
in  the  outside  world,  many  of  them  earning  for  the  state,  as  the 
warden  informed  us,  fully  two  dollars  a  day.     The  number  of 
punishments  inflicted  on  the  convicts  in  the  provincial  penitenti- 
ary, Canada,  far  exceeds,  proportionally,  the  amount  given  in  any 
of  the  prisons  in  the  United  States.     The  following  are  the  sta- 
tistics on  that  head  for  1865,  in  the  male  department  of  the  prison: 
Forty-two  were  punished  with  the  cat;  six  with  ball  and  chain; 
three  hundred  and  ninety-nine  in  dark  cell;  thirty-nine  in  solitary 
cells;  forty-five  by  deprivation  of  bed;  and  one  thousand  three 
hundred  and  ninety-five  by  meals  of  bread  and  water,  varying  from 
one  to  ten.     This  would  appear  to  give  an  aggregate  of  one  thou- 
sand nine  hundred  and  twenty-six  punishments  for  the  year.     It 
would  be  an  error,  however,  so  to  conceive  or  represent  the 
matter.     On  this  subject  the  warden  says  :    "  It  may  be  well  to 
explain  that  confinement  to  what  is  termed  the  dark  cell  is,  gen- 
erally, for  one  or  two  nights,  with  three  or  four  meals  of  bread 
and  water,  and  is  on  the  same  report  of  breach  of  discipline  as  a 
uigrht  or  two  without  bed,  and  three  or  four  meals  of  bread  and 
water,  as  the  case  may  be.     I  have  thought  it  proper  to  make 
these  explanations,  otherwise  these  punishments  would  be  con- 
sidered  as  being  very  numerous."    Now,  if  we  even  deduct  one- 
half  the  punishments  by  meals  of  bread  and  water  on  account  of 
these  duplicated  cases,  it  will  still  leave  one  thousand  two  hundred 
and  twenty -nine  as  the  whole  number  of  different  punishments  for 
the  year.     The  average  number  of  male  convicts  in  18  05  was 
about  seven  hundred;  by  combining  these  elements,  we  find  that 
the  punishments  amounted  to  within  a  fraction  of  uftecn  per  cent 
monthly;  that  is  to  say,  they  were  nearly  five  times  as  numerous, 
proportionally,  as  in  Massachusetts,  and  more  than  fifteen  per  cent 
in  excess  of  those  in  Maine. 


UNITED   STATES  AND   CANADA. 


171 


There  is  no  record  of  punishments  kept  in  the  state  prisons  of 
Kentucky  or  New  Hampshire,  a  grave  omission;  in  all  the  other 
prisons  visited  by  us,  according  to  the  statements  of  the  wardens, 
complete  registers  are  kept  on  this  head;  except  that  in  Michi- 
gan, we  Avere  informed,  the  minor  punishments,  as  privation  of 
bed,  food,  &c.,  are  not  made  matter  of  record,  but  only  those 
which  are  accounted  severe,  viz:  by  the  lash,  dark  cell,  and  ball 
and  chain. 

In  nearly  all  the  prisons  visited  by  us,  whether  in  the  United 
States  or  Canada,  punishments  are  most  frequently  inflicted  on 
convicts  for  talking  or  otherwise  communicating  with  each  other. 
Insolence,  insubordination,  disobedience,  quarreling,  and  attempts 
to  escape,  furnish  not  unfrequent  occasions  for  the  exercise  of 
coercive  discipline. 

Everywhere,  in  our  visits,  we  sought  to  ascertain,  first,  whether 
punishments  were  observed  to  be  more  frequent  in  some  shops 
than  in  others,  and,  secondly,  whether,  if  so,  any  causes  for  the 
difference  existed  either  in  the  occupations  of  the  convicts,  as 
being  chiefly  sedentary  or  otherwise,  or  in  the  physical  condition 
of  the  shops,  as  to  ventilation,  &c.;  and  whether  this  increased 
proportion  of  punishment  was  due  to  a  morbid  state  of  the  sys- 
tem and  irritation  produced  by  the  aforementioned  causes.  That 
a  greater  proportional  amount  of  punishment  was,  in  point  of 
fact,  inflicted  on  the  occupants  of  some  shops  than  of  others,  was 
generally  admitted;  but  that  it  was  due  to  the  causes  suggested  was 
quite  as  generally  denied.  Whether  this  denial  was  founded  on  an 
intelligent  and  careful  observation  of  facts  is,  perhaps,  open  to 
some  doubt.  At  any  rate,  the  undersigned  thought  that,  in  some 
instances  at  least,  they  could  themselves  discover  the  existence  of 
inherent  and  permanent  causes  of  irritation  in  shops  where  the 
greater  number  of  punishments  occurred;  as,  for  example,  the 
hemp  shop  in  the  Kentucky  penitentiary,  in  some  departments  of 
which  the  dust  was  so  great  and  so  incessant  as  seriously  to  impair 
the  health  of  convicts  working  there.  Still,  with  remarkable 
unanimity,  the  wardens  traced  the  excess  of  punishments  in  some 
sliops  over  others  to  another  and  altogether  moral  cause,  viz:  the 
want  of  care  and  efficiency  in  the  keepers  or  overseers  of  those 
shops.  With  one  voice  they  unite  in  declaring  that  vigilance  is 
vital  to  order;  that  it  is  the  soul  of  discipline;  that,  in  short, 
without  it,  all  things  would  rush  to  confusion  and  anax'chy.  And 
there  can  be  no  doubt  that  they  are  right  in  this  view.     The  old 


172 


PRISONS  AND  RBF0BMAT0BIB8  OF  THE 


maxim,  vtgilantibus,  non  dormientibtts  aervit  lex, — "the  law  is  the 
servant  of  the  watchful,  not  of  the  slumbering," — is  as  true  in 
respect  to  prison  discipline,  as  it  is  of  any  other  department  of 
government.  Convicts  who  know  that  the  keeper's  eye  is  ever 
on  them  seldom  expose  themselves  to  punishment.  Sleepless 
vigilance  on  the  part  of  officers  is  more  effective  than  the  utmost 
rigor  of  penal  infliction.  Watchfulness  in  the  keeper  begets  self- 
watchfulness  in  the  convict;  and  this  especially,  when  it  is  com- 
bined with  humanity,  discretion,  and  manifest  conscientiousness. 
j^U  this  is  abundantly  attested  by  what  is  taking  place  every  day 
in  our  prisons.  The  degree  of  vigilance  and  tact  in  the  keeper 
measures  the  relative  amount  of  punishment  inflicted  on  the  men 
under  him  with  almost  as  much  certainty  as  the  height  of  the 
mercury  in  the  thermometer  measures  the  temperature  of  the 
atmosphere. 

The  testimony  of  the  wardens  is  uniform  to  the  fact  that  punish- 
ments are  oftener  inflicted  on  short-term  men  than  on  those  who 
are  in  on  long  sentences. 

It  is  claimed  by  the  superintendents  of  all  the  prisons  visited,  who 
returned  answers  to  our  questions,  that,  so  far  as  they  know,  and 
certainly  under  their  own  administration,  neither  death  nor  per- 
manent injury  has  ever  resulted  from  any  punishments  inflicted  in 
their  respective  institutions.  We  are  bound,  and  certainly  not  in- 
disposed, to  take  the  word  of  these  gentlemen  in  regard  to  their 
own  administration ;  but  we  have  grave  doubts  whether  the  claim, 
which  is  doubtless  true  in  their  own  case,  can  be  made,  with  equal 
truth,  to  cover  the  entire  history  of  the  prisons  over  which  they 
severally  preside.  Sure  wo  are  that  such  a  claim  cannot  be  truly 
set  up  in  the  state  of  New  York ;  and  we  do  not  suppose  that  our 
state,  even  as  regards  the  character  and  conduct  of  her  prison  o&- 
cers,  is  justly  open  to  the  charge  of  pre-eminent  barbarity  among 
her  sister  states. 

In  the  earlier  history  of  the  penitentiary  system  of  the  United 
States,  it  was  a  common  practice  to  entrust  to  subordinate  officers 
the  power  of  administering  punishment  to  convicts.  It  was  claimed 
that  punishment  should  follow  instantaneously  on  the  commission 
of  any  offence  against  prison  rules,  or  otherwise  the  discipline 
could  not  be  maintained  with  the  necessary  vigor  ;  and,  therefore, 
that  it  wtis  absolutely  essential  to  clothe  all  officers,  charged  with 
the  maintenance  of  order,  with  the  power  of  punishing.  We  are 
happy  to  be  able  to  state  that,  so  far  as  we  know,  in  all  the  pris- 


UNITED  8TATB8  AND  CANADA. 


178 


6ns  of  the  United  States  and  Canada,  with  a  single  exception,  this 
power  has  been  taken  away  ^'om  the  under  ofScors;  the  exception 
bei  ng  in  the  state  penitentia  <f  Kentucky.  The  power  of  punishing 
is  now  everywhere,  except  Fb  v.,bove  stated,  confined  to  the  warden  and 
deputy  ;  and  the  uniform  testimony  is,  that  the  discipline  of  the 
prisons  has  not  suffered  from  the  change.  On  this  subject,  Mr. 
Miller,  of  Missouri,  observes:  "All  punishments  in  this  prison 
must  be  iuflicted  under  the  direction  of  the  warden  ;  uudor-keep- 
ers  are  not  allowed,  in  any  case,  to  administer  discipline  in  this 
way.  If  they  were  permitted  to  exercise  the  power  of  punishing 
ad  libitum,  there  would  be  no  end  of  abuses  and  no  limit  to  tyran- 
ny  and  oppression."  We  fully  concur  with  Mr.  M.  in  this  state- 
ment ;  and  the  sworn  testimony  taken  by  the  Prison  Association 
this  year  (1866),  affords  abundant  confirmation  of  its  truth. 

On  the  subject  of  prison  punishments,  we  have  these  general 
thoughts  to  offer.  The  opinion  expressed  by  Mr.  Hill,  in  his  work 
on  Crime,  meets  our  liearty  concurrence,  viz:  that,  under  good 
arrangements  and  good  management,  there  is  little  necessity  for 
punishment  in  a  prison,  and  that  wherever  the  number  of  punish- 
ments is  large,  it  may  be  safely  concluded  that  either  the  building 
is  ill-constructed,  or  the  system  of  discipline  is  bad,  or  the  o£Scers 
are  neglectful  or  incompetent.  Still,  there  will  always  be  more 
or  less  need  of  punishment  in  prisons,  especially  among  new-com- 
ers; and  it  is,  therefore,  important  to  determine  the  principles  on 
which  punishment  should  be  regulated.  We  would  say,  then,  of 
prison  punishments,  as  of  prison  rewards,  that  they  should  be 
made,  as  far  as  may  be,  to  arise  naturally  out  of  the  offences  com- 
mitted. Thus,  idleness  in  a  prisoner  might  be  punished  by  the 
diminution  or  even  temporary  withdrawment  of  his  food;  injury 
done  to  work,  by  the  imposition  of  additional  labor;  abuse  of 
books,  by  withholding  the  privilege  of  the  library;  injury  done 
to  any  article  he  is  permitted  to  use,  by  deprivation  of  the  article 
for  a  time,  or  by  requiring  him  to  pay  for  it,  in  whole  or  in  part, 
out  of  any  earnings  of  his  own  by  overwork  or  otherwise;  and  so 
on,  to  an}'  extent  which  the  ingenuity  of  ofSoers  might  suggest. 
We  have  already  given  a  specimen  of  these  natural  punishments 
in  an  extract  from  the  communication  made  to  us  by  Mr.  Cordier, 
of  Wisconsin.  In  the  rules  of  the  Scottish  prisons,  it  is  expressly 
enjoined  that  recourse  be  had  to  punishments  of  this  kind  on  all 
occasions  where  they  are  available.  In  prisons  where  artificial 
offences  are  reduced  to  a  minimum,  and  where  the  arrangements 


171 


PBISONS  AND  REPORMATOBIES  OF  THE 


are  simple  and  natural,  this  principle  would,  we  believe,  be  appli- 
cable to  the  greater  number  of  punishments;  and  it  has  thia 
recommendation,  that  the  prisoner  himself  will  generally  feel  its 
justice,  and  it  will  not,  therefore,  be  likel}'  to  excite  in  him  those 
bitter  and  revengeful  feelings  which  punishment  is  so  apt  to 
engender,  and  which  oppose  themselves  so  strongly  to  his  own 
moral  improvement. 

There  is  not,  we  are  sorry  to  say,  a  prison  on  the  American  con- 
tinent, in  which  any  tests  exist,  whereby  the  ability  of  the  prison- 
ers to  resist  temptation  can  be  measured;  none  where  decisive  and 
reliable  proofs  can,  ordinarily  at  least,  be  obtained  of  moral  amend- 
ment. This  we  regard  as  a  radical,  almost  a  fatal  defect  in  their 
organization;  for  we  fully  agree  with  Mr.  Frederick  Hill  in  the 
opinion  that  "that  system  of  prison  discipline  must  be  very 
imperfect,  which  does  not  afford  the  opportunity  for  obtaining 
indisputable  evidence  on  this  point." 

The  opinion  was  very  generally  expressed  to  us  by  prison  oflBI- 
cers  that  it  is,  in  all  cases,  desirable  to  supplement  the  congregate 
system  with  a  number  of  solitary  cells,  sufficiently  large,  well- 
lighted,  and  well-aired  to  serve  for  workshops  as  well  as  sleeping 
rooms.  The  policy  of  such  an  arrangement  cannot  be  doubted. 
The  percentage  of  men  who  give  nearly  all  the  trouble  and  receive 
most  of  the  severe  punishments  in  all  our  prisons  is  very  small. 
We  have  already  seen  that  in  some  prisons  from  eighty  to  ninety 
per  cent,  of  the  convicts  go  through  their  prison  life  without  a 
solitary  violation  of  prison  rules,  and  earn  the  entire  commuta- 
tion, or  deduction  of  sentence,  which  the  laws  of  their  respective 
states  allow.  Now,  it  is  well  known  that  there  are  many  things 
prohibited  in  prison,  not  because  they  are  wrong  in  themselves, 
but  becaifoe,  if  allowed,  the  privilege  would  be  abused  by  bad 
men.  The  most  irritating  of  these  restraints  might  be  removed 
with  safety,  if  a  few  mischievous  men  were  permanently  separated 
from  the  body  of  the  prisoners.  The  multiplication  of  offenses, 
which  are  merely  mala  prohibita  and  not  mala  per  se,  is  injurious 
to  good  discipline  and  detrimental  to  the  reformation  of  offenders. 
The  erection  of  the  proposed  supplementary  cells  and  the  incar- 
ceration of  the  troublesome  and  especially  the  dangerous  prisoners 
in  them,  might  render  it  both  safe  and  politic  to  abolish  these 
conventional  offenses,  and  would  certainly  diminish  the  number  of 
punishments,  increase  the  security  and  comfort  of  the  officers,  and 
promote  all  the  higher  objects  of  prison  discipline.    It  is  not  a 


UNITED  STATES  AND  CANADA. 


176 


little  curious  that  the  only  objection  to  this  plan  comes  from  the 
warden  of  the  western  penitentiary  of  PennsyWauia,  a  prison 
established  and  conducted  wholly  on  the  separate  principle.  One 
would  think  that  the  governor  of  such  a  prison  would  hail,  with 
gratulatiou,  any  approach  by  other  institutions  to  the  principle 
which  he  must  be  presumed  to  regard  as  the  wisest  and  best  ever 
yet  devised  as  the  basis  of  a  prison  system.  Yet  Dr.  Campbell 
thus  expresses  his  opinion  on  this  question:  "  It  is  considered  very 
doubtful  whether  it  would  bo  expedient  to  supplement  the  Aiiburn 
system  with  any  solitary  cells  for  exceptional  cases."  The  ground 
of  this  doubt  is  not  stated;  and  we  confess  ourselves  quite  incom* 
petent  to  divine  the  thought  that  lies  at  the  bottom  of  it. 

In  our  state  prisons,  without  exception  we  believe,  it  is  the 
right  of  a  prisoner,  if  Le  thinks  that  injustice  has  been  done  him 
by  a  keeper,  to  lay  his  complaint  before  the  head  of  the  prison. 

^3uch  complaints  are  always  received  and  investigated.  From  a 
few  prisons  we  have  the  statement  that  in  cases  of  this  kind  the 
testimony  of  convicts  is  not  admitted;  in  the  great  majority, 
however,  their  statements  are  received,  and  such  weight  given 
them  as  the  circumstances  seem  to  warrant. 

f  In  four  at  least  of  the  state  prisons  of  the  United  States,  the  rule 
of  silence  is  relaxed,  so  far  as  to  permit  prisoners  to  speak  to  each 
other  in  reference  to  their  work,  without  the  necessity  of  asking 
special  permission  for  that  purpose.  The  prisons  referred  to  are 
those  of  Maine,  Kentucky,  Missouri,  and  Clinton  county.  New 
York.  In  all  the  other  state  prisons  of  the  United  States  and 
the  provincial  penitentiary  of  Canada,  absolute  and  unbroken 
silence  is  the  rule;  but  the  degree  of  strictness  with  which  this 
rule  is  enforced  varies  greatly  in  different  institutions.  In  a  few, 
all  the  rigor  of  the  ancient  discipline  is  maintained.  For  in- 
stance, the  discipline  of  the  Wcthersfield  prison  is  stern,  rigid, 
and  inflexible.  It  bends  to  no  offender,  however  obstinate  and 
indomitable  his  spirit.  It  allows  no  insubordination,  yields  to  no 
compromise,  relaxes  no  restraint.  In  a  word,  it  contemplates  and 
enforces  unqualified  submission  and  obedience.  To  test  its  effi- 
ciency for  ourselves,  the  warden  desired  us  to  make  the  circuit  of 
a  largo  workshop,  in  which  the  men  were  burnishing  silver  ware, 
each  facing  the  windows.  We  passed  the  entire  company,  pausing 
a  moment  at  the  back  of  each  to  inspect  his  work.  With  the 
exception  of  a  negro  lad,  who  stole  one  furtive  glance  at  the 
strangers,  (and  the  warden  apologized  for  him  by  saying  that  this 


176 


PBIBOMS  AMD  MFOftMATOBIBB  Or  THB 


'was  his  second  dny  in  prison)  not  a  man  turned  un  eye  towards  us; 
not  ono  soomod  oonsoious  of  our  proHenoe;  not  ono  suspended  for 
an  instant  the  work  on  which  be  was  engaged.  All  that  long  lino 
of  human  beings,  forming  throu  sides  of  a  largo  hollow  square, 
seuniod  like  parts  of  some  hugu  mauhino;  with  such  regularity, 
praoision,  steadinosM,  luid  absolute  self-abnegation  M'ere  all  thnir 
movements  conducted.  No  doubt  all  this  was  very  admirablu,  as 
showing  the  power  of  one  human  mind  over  multitudes  of  others; 
but  tho  elfoct  upon  us,  instead  of  being  pleasing,  was  intensely 
painful.  To  our  apprehension,  it  seemed  a  process  adapted  to 
crush  out  every  noble  aspiration,  every  manly  sentiment,  from  the 
breasts  of  those  who  were  subjected  to  its  operation.  On  sub- 
sequently  mentioning  the  scene  and  its  impression  to  tho  Hon. 
Mr.  Blaine,  Member  of  Congress  from  Maine,  who  had  a  few 
years  before  been  oonnuissioned  by  his  own  state  to  visit  prisons 
for  the  purpose  of  inquiring  into  their  financial  management,  that 
gentleman  remarked  that  ho  had  witnestsed  the  same  scene  with 
the  same  feelings,  when  at  Wethorstield  in  fulfillmont  of  his 
mission.  The  discipline  of  the  New  Hampshire  state  prison  wo 
found  marked  by  tlio  same  general  characteristics  as  that  at 
Wethorstield.  Every  man  there  is  required  to  labor  with  down- 
cast look,  and  forbidden,  on  any  occasion  or  under  any  pretext, 
to  lift  his  eyes  from  his  work.  Wo  found  discipline  enforced  in 
other  prisons  with  much  strictness, — for  example,  in  Massachu- 
setts, Ohio,  Wisconsin,  and  elsewhere;  but  there  tho  men  work  as 
they  do  in  other  great  manufactories.  The  prisons  in  thcso  states 
are  busy  hives  of  industry;  but  there  is  no  requisition  to  be  ever 
looking  down  upon  the  ground;  the  convicts  stand  erect,  and  oven 
if  they  should  occasionally  look  up  towards  heaven,  or  glance  at 
u  passing  visitor,  it  is  not  regarded  as  u  grave  offence. 

Tho  theory  of  tho  congregate  system  of  imprisonment  is  u  rigid 
prohibition  of  inter-communication  between  the  prisoners.  Two 
means  are  relied  upon  to  secure  this  result, — a  total  separation  of 
the  prisoners  by  night  and  a  sleepless  vigilance  of  the  officers  by 
day.  The  question  is,  how  far  non-intercourse  is  iiotually  secured, 
despite  the  strong  temptation  to  the  contrary  in  beings  endowed 
by  the  Creator  with  sociability,  who  are  compelled,  day  after  day, 
month  after  month,  and  year  aitxiv  year,  to  work  together,  march 
together,  eut  together,  attend  church  together ;  in  a  word,  to  be 
in  perpetual  contact  with  each  other. 


VNITBD  STATB8  AND  CANADA. 


177 


Wo  have  already  stated  that  there  are  many  degrees  of  strict- 
ness in  the  enforoenient  of  the  rule  of  silence,  the  variation  being 
from  tile  extreme  rigor,  found  ut  WutlierotieUl  and  Conuord,  to  a 
laxity  quite  as  extreme,  existing  in  some  other  prisonn.  Indeed, 
in  many  worlcshops  the  noise  of  the  machinery  employed  is  so 
great,  that  convicts  at  only  a  moderate  distance  from  the  keeper 
can  converse  aloud,  and  even  sing  and  shout,  without  being  heard 
hy  him.  This  is,  to  a  great  extent,  the  ease  in  8ing  Sing  and 
Auburn  prisons,  and  must  be  so  in  many  others.  The  general 
testimony  of  prison  oiKcers,  even  in  prisons  where  discipline  is 
muintained  with  the  greatest  strictness,  is  that  there  arc  many 
ways  in  which  the  rule  of  silence  can  bo,  and  is,  evaded  continually. 
Many  of  the  bcstt  ofHcers  affirm  that  it  can  be  enforced  only  so  far 
as  to  prevent  general  conversation,  and  may  be  evaded  to  such  a 
degree  that  the  intercourse  between  prisoners  can  become  mutual* 
ly  corrupting.  How  far  communication  can  be,  and  has  been,  car- 
ried at  Sing  Sing,  appears  from  the  extensive  conspiracy  entered 
into  l>y  the  convicts  in  that  prison  last  summer,  in  which  large 
numbers  were  implicated,  and  which  was  carried  to  tlic  i)oint  of 
an  open  and  dimgerous  revolt,  that  was  prevented  from  uttuining 
complete  success,  and,  was  finally  crushed,  only  by  the  cool  and 
heroic  bravery  of  the  guards. 

Conununication,  then,  Ave  must  believe,  takes  place  among  con- 
victs continually,  and,  in  most  prisons,  to  a  very  great  extent.  The 
workshop,  mess-room,  chupel,  hospital,  water  closet,  yard,  corri- 
diU'S,  marchings,  and  even  the  cells  themselves  afford  ample  means 
for  it.  One  officer  declared  that,  if  a  keeper  were  placed  over 
every  five  men,  communication  could  not  bo  prevented.  Another 
said  that  the  result  of  an  election  was  known  all  over  the  prison 
almost  as  speedily  as  it  was  outside.  A  third  affirmed  that  any 
interesting  item  of  news,  introduced  by  a  new  comer,  circulated 
with  amazing  rapidity  among  the  prison  population.  A  fouith 
told  us  that  a  certain  keeper  learned  the  news  of  the  assassination 
of  Prenideut  Lincoln  from  the  men  belonging  to  the  company  of 
which  he  had  the  charge. 

In  view  of  facts  like  these,  and  as  the  result  of  experiments 
made  by  him  during  his  administration  of  the  state  penitentiary  of 
Missouri,  Mr.  Miller  does  not  hesitate  to  recommend  a  modifica- 
tion of  the  rule,  which  imposes  absolute  and  perpetual  silence  upon 
convicts  during  their  entire  term  of  imprisonment.  His  language 
is:  -'In  the  congregate  plan,  the  rule  of  absolute  silence  caa 

[Asscm.  No.  35.]  12 


J78 


PRI80K8  AND  RIFOBIIATOBIEB  OF  THB 


aearcely  be  liternlly  enforced.  It  can  be  evaded  in  many  ways, 
but  chiefly  on  the  ground  that  one  ask  another  to  help  or  instruct 
him  at  his  work.  And  the  keeper  is  obliged  to  wink  at  violations 
of  the  rule,  and  take  excuacs  that  he  knows  are  untrue,  or  else 
upend  his  time  in  reporting  cases.  It  is  better,  therefore,  in  my 
opinion,  in  all  respects,  to  allow  conversation  to  a  limited  extent, 
than  to  encourage  a  system  of  falsehood  by  taking  false  excuses. 
I  have  found  no  evil  to  result  from  granting  this  permission.  In- 
deed, so  highly  is  the  privilege  valued  by  all  classes  of  convicts, 
that  the  better  disposed  and  more  influential  among  them  co-ope- 
rate with  the  keepers  in  preventing  the  abuse  of  it." 
.  For  ourselves  we  have  no  hesitation  in  expressing  our  opposi- 
tion to  the  multiplication  of  mere  artificial  or  conventional  rules, 
whether  in  prisons  or  out  of  them.  As  in  the  great  world,  so  in 
the  little  world  comprised  within  the  walls  of  a  prison,  every  de- 
parture from  the  laws  of  nature  must  cause  an  increase  of  these 
artificial  transgressions.  The  tendency  of  this  state  of  things  is 
to  confound  moral  offenses  with  mere  breaches  of  regulations, 
and  to  diminish  the  feeling  both  of  self-condemnation  and  public 
opprobrium,  which  ought  ever  to  attach  to  real  turpitude.  To 
punish  a  prisoner  for  speaking  to  his  comrade  in  marching  to 
meals,  or  for  calling  to  him  from  his  cell,  in  the  same  manner  as 
for  striking  him  or  stealing  from  him,  must  tend  to  lessen  his 
sense  of  the  ill-desert  of  the  crimes  of  assault  and  thefk.  This  is 
to  draw  no  proper  distinction  between  moral  and  conventional 
offenses.  In  most  prisons,  the  number  of  these  latter  is  nuilti- 
plied  by  minute  regulations,  and  their  importance  greatly  exag- 
gerated. In  this  way,  the  spirit  of  obedience  is  exhausted  by  the 
demand  for  Avhat  most  prisoners  look  upon  as  mere  frivolities, 
and  their  conscience  becomes  seared  through  indulgence  in  petty 
transgression.  The  natural  tendency  of  minute,  and  especially  of 
unreasonable,  regulations  is  to  provoke  the  breach  of  them,  and 
thus  to  morally  injure  their  victims  by  familiarizing  their  minds 
with  thoughts  and  acts  of  disobedience.  •>     \ 

Considerations  like  these,  and  others  connected  with  the  ques- 
tion whether  a  prisoji  syBtem  is  not  to  be  preferred  which  works 
with  rather  than  against  nature,  have  led  thoughtful  men  in  this 
and  other  countries  to  query  whether  the  absolute  prohibition  of 
all  intercourse  between  prisoners  is,  after  all,  the  best  plan,  and 
whether  a  "more  excellent  way  "  may  not  be  found.  There  can 
b«  no  doubt,  at  least  we  have  none,  thftt  suQh  unbroken  silence 


UNITED  STATES  AND  CANADA. 


179 


should  be  ext«'.K;d  of  convicts  whenever  they  are  shut  up  in  their 
solitary  cells.  But  we  more  than  doubt  the  wisdom  or  utility  of 
8uch  exaction  at  all  other  times.  We  are,  indeed,  clear  in  the 
conviction  that,  to  a  limited  extent  and  under  judicious  restric- 
tions, conversation  should  be  permitted  among  prisoners  in  certain 
stages  of  their  imprisonment. 

We  have  already,  in  a  former  part  of  this  report,  expressed  our 
approval  of  a  period  of  separate  imprisonment,  to  be  made  longer 
or  shorter  according  to  the  conduct  of  the  prisoner  and  the  exi- 
gencies of  his  physical  condition,  as  part  of  a  comprehensive 
scheme  of  prison  discipline.  This  should  be  gradually  followed, 
according  to  circumstances,  by  regulated  association;  the  amount 
of  association  increasing  or  diminishing  according  to  the  use  .or 
abuse  of  the  privilege,  and  as  it  should  be  found  to  be  beneficial 
or  otherwise.  The  first  stage  of  a  criminal's  imprisonment  should 
be  severely  penal.  This  highly  punitive  stage  should  by  degrees 
melt  into  probation,  and  probation,  again,  into  entire  freedom,  as 
gradually  as  possible.  Sociability  is  one  of  the  strongest  of  human 
instincts,  and  the  social  principles  and  relations  are  the  great 
springs  of  improvemen^.  It  is  by  these  that  the  heart  is  kindled, 
and  Avarmth  and  energy  imparted  to  the  character.  Man  droops 
and  pines  in  solitude,  whether  that  solitude  be  created  by  a  physi- 
cal or  moral  separation — by  walls  of  granite  or  a  wall  of  absolute 
and  eternal  silence.  No  sound  excites  him  like  the  voice  of  his 
fellow-man.  This  imparts  strength  to  dare,  to  do,  and  to  suffer; 
and  these  three  words  express  the  sum  of  human  duty. 

We  have  said  that  the  free  play  of  our  social  nature  is  the 
great  spring  of  human  improvement;  and  this,  we  think,  is  as 
true  of  man  imprisoned,  as  of  man  in  society;  for  imprisonment 
does  not  obliterate  the  human  soul,  nor  in  any  way  alter  its  prin- 
ciples and  operations.  If,  then,  sociability  is  a  fountain  of  moral 
strength  in  civil  life,  it  will  be,  under  proper  guards  and  restric- 
tions, equally  a  source  of  moral  strength  in  prison  life.  When, 
therefore,  prisoners  are  brought  together,  we  are  of  the  opinion 
that  they  should  really  associate  as  human  beings,  and  not  be 
doomed,  as  Mr.  Hill  has  said,  to  eternal  dumbness,  with  heads 
and  eyes  fixed  like  statues  in  the  same  direction.  We  are  of  the 
opinion  that  all  attempts  to  carry  out  such  a  warfare  upon  nature 
must  be  productive  of  endless  deception,  and  so  far  tend  to  cor. 
rupt  and  destroy  what  remains  of  virtue  yet  linger  in  the  men 
and  women  who  compose  our  prison  populations.    That  this  wot"^ 


180 


PBI80N8  AND  R1F0RIIAT0RIE8  OF  THB 


fare  on  nature  gives  rise  to  a  vast  amonnt  of  irritation,  and  is  the 
principal  source  of  pnnislimont  in  our  prisons,  is  attested  ))y  the 
almost  unanimous  voice  of  our  prison  officers,  as  reported  in  a 
former  paragraph.  As  the  object  of  discipline  in  a  prison,  so  far 
as  relates  to  mere  control,  is,  or  ought  to  be,  to  curb  only  the  bad 
passions  and  evil  propensities,  and  not  to  destroy  the  social  feel- 
ings or  stifle  impulses  and  desires  in  themselves  innocent,  wo  are 
of  the  opinion  that,  when  prisoners  are  brought  into  association, 
although  neither  idleness  nor  disorder  of  any  kind  should  be  al- 
lowed, they  should  be  permitted  to  conduct  themselves,  in  all 
respects,  as  a  similar  company  of  men  outside  would,  engaged  in 
the  same  occupation. 

But,  it  will  be  said,  the  intercourse  of  prisoners  is  corrupting; 
and  this  is  now  commonly  regarded  as  an  axiom,  a  selfovident 
proposition.  But,  in  our  judgment,  the  nature  and  circumstances 
of  that  intercourse  must  be  considered,  before  we  can  pronounce 
categorically  upon  its  tendency.  Promiscuous  intercourse  of 
prisoners,  such  as  it  existed  in  all  prisons  prior  to  the  introduc- 
tion of  what  is  called  the  penitentiary  system,  and  still  exists  in 
most  county  jails,  is  no  doubt  demoralizing  to  the  last  degree. 
But  this  corrupting  power  ol  association  may  be  counteracted; 
nay,  such  association  may  be  converted  into  a  means  of  improve- 
ment and  reformation,  by  benig  subjected  to  virtuous  direction 
and  control.  The  rule  of  absolute,  uninterrupted,  eternal  silence, 
introduced  contemporaneously  with  the  penitentiary  system,  was 
doubtless  a  reaction  of  the  promiscuous  association  to  which  we 
have  referred,  with  its  brood  of  drinking,  smoking,  gambling, 
swearing,  stealing,  cheating,  lighting,  obscenity,  and  ribald  blas- 
phemy. But,  as  usually  happens,  the  reaction  went  too  far,  and 
swung  over  to  the  other  extreme.  Has  Mr.  Haynes  found  the  in- 
tercourse allowed  on  public  holidays  among  his  prisoners  a  source 
of  mutual  contamination?  Did  Mr.  Miller  And  it  so,  though  per- 
mitted to  the  deserving  on  Sabbath  days  as  well  as  holidays? 
Both  testily,  as  we  have  seen,  positively  and  strongly,  to  an  influ- 
ence the  direct  reverse  of  this;  an  influence  healthful,  purifying, 
invigorating,  reformatory  to  a  high  degree.  Mr.  Hajrnes  says 
that  it  has  diminished  punishments  fifty  per  cent.,  and  has  been 
the  source  of  numerous  other  benefits  to  the  convicts.  If  he  will 
grant  this  privilege  of  regulated  intercourse  weekly,  instead  of 
three  or  four  times  a  year,  and  make  it  bona  fide  the  reward  of 
good  conduct  and  industry,  ho  may  possibly  bring  his  punish- 


tNITED  STATES  AND  CANADA. 


181 


ments  down  to  zero,  with  a  proportional  amount  of  other  ndvan- 
tiiges.  The  truth  is,  what  we  want  is  to  gain  the  will,  the  con- 
sent,  the  cooperation  of  these  men,  not  to  mould  them  into  so 
many  pieces  of  machii"ry.  But  in  order  to  do  this,  nature  must 
be  followed,  not  crushed;  wooei!,  not  coerced.  It  is  by  persua- 
sion, not  compulsion,  that  men  are  to  be  turned  away  from  crime, 
and  won  back  to  virtue.  They  are  best  compelled  hy  a  powerful 
and  minutely  arranged  external  apparatus;  but  they  are  best  led 
without  it. 

A  man  who  has  been  tried  on  a  criminal  charge,  convicted,  sen- 
tenced, and  shut  up  in  a  state  prison,  cannot  but  feel  a  degree  of 
degradation.  If  he  has  any  vestige  of  manhood  remaining  in 
him — and  we  believe  there  are  few  convicts  who  have  not — this 
must  of  necessity  be  so.  It  is  proper  that  the  convict  should  feel 
the  disgrace  of  his  crime  and  his  sentence.  This  is  a  part  of  his 
punishment,  inflicted  by  heaven  itself.  But  we  agree  with  the 
inspectors  of  the  Massachusetts  state  prison  in  the  opinion,  that 
beyond  this  there  should  bo  no  degradation,  no  disgrace  inflicted 
on  him,  except  what  may  be  requisite  to  his  safe  custody,  or  as  a 
punishment  for  the  infraction  of  necessary  rules.  No  wanton  out- 
rage should  be  oflered  to  his  manhood.  As  the  reformatiou  of 
convicts  is,  perhaps,  the  most  difficult  and  certainly  one  of  the 
most  important  of  the  problems,  whose  solution  is  demanded  by 
the  welfare  of  society,  any  means,  however  slight  in  itself,  adapted  to 
create  and  increase  their  feeling  of  self-respect,  should  be  seized 
and  turned  to  the  best  account.  On  entering  their  prison  hoifse, 
they  should  be  taught  to  feel  that  they  havea  character  to  redeem; 
a  future  of  virtuous  and  useful  industry  to  create. 

Deeply  impressed  with  this  view,  and  knowing  how  intensely 
many  convicts  dislike  the  prison  uniform  which  they  are  obliged 
to  wear,  and  how  stubbornly  their  feelings,  at  least,  rebel  against 
it,  we  made  special  inquiry  on  this  point,  hoping  to  find  that  the 
parti-colored  dress  had  been  extensively  discarded,  or  at  least  that 
there  would  be  a  general  concurrence  of  sentiment  among  prison 
officers  against  its  continuance.  This  hope  was  doomed  to  disap- 
pointment in  both  branches  of  it.  The  hated  uniform,  carrying  with 
it  a  degrading  badge  and  at  war  with  that  sentiment  of  self-respect 
adverted  to  as  so  important  to  create  and  preserve,  is  retained  in 
all  the  prisons  visited  by  us,  except  that  of  Massachusetts;  and 
the  majority  of  wardens  express  themselves  as  favoring  its  reten- 
tion.   A  few,  however — and  they  are  those  who  are  most  in  ad- 


182 


PRISONS  AND  BIF0RMAT0RIB8  OF  TBI 


vanoo  of  the  times  in  thoir  views  of  prison  discipline — favor, 
wisely,  as  wo  ttiink,  the  nbolishinent  of  the  parti-colorcd  uniform. 
Says  Mr.  Scaton,  of  Michigan  :  "  The  prison  garb  has  not  been 
abolished  in  this  state,  but,  in  my  opinion,  it  should  be  discon- 
tinued.  It  has  only  a  degrading  tendency,  and  no  advantages  to 
counterbalance  this  evil  effect."  To  the  same  effect  is  the  lan< 
guago  of  Mr.  Cordicr,  of  Wisconsin:  "The  prison  dress  has  not 
been  aholiHhod;  it  should  bo  discontinued.  I  do  not  know  a 
single  good  reason  for  its  retention."  Mr.  Miller,  of  Missouri, 
says:  "The  prison  dress  has  not  been  abolished;  but  I  am  per- 
fectly satisfied  that  it  might  and  should  be.  There  is  no  advan- 
tage in  any  costume  that  has  tho  effect  of  constantly  reminding 
the  wearer  of  his  disgruce." 

We  have  already  stated  that  tho  parti-colored  dress  has  been 
discarded  in  Massachusetts.  On  this  subject  the  inspectors,  in 
their  report  of  1864,  say:  "In  regard  to  the  dress  of  the  prison- 
ers, we  have  long  thought  that  a  reform  might  bo  made.  We  are 
quite  clear  thot  the  law  does  not  demand  it,  and  that  humanity 
forbids  it.  The  parti-colorcd  dress,  heretofore  worn,  we  have 
regarded  as  degrading,  and  calculated  to  drive  the  convict's  man- 
hood from  him;  the  very  thing  wo  most  want  him  to  retain.  And 
as  this  dress  is  not  deemed  necessary  for  his  safe-keeping  (the  fact 
being  that  no  absconding  prisoner  was  ever  detected  by  his  dress), 
we  have  changed  the  parti-colored  garb  for  one  of  uniform  color. 
We  believe  that  this  change  is  an  important  improvement,  and 
witl  result  in  good  to  the  discipline  of  tho  prison,  and  in  no  way 
operate  against  tho  public  welfare."  A  year  subsequent  to  tho 
date  of  tliis  report,  the  warden,  Mr.  Haynes,  expressed  himself  to 
us  well  pleased  with  the  effect  of  the  chuige,  declaring  that  it 
had  more  than  met  the  expectations  of  tho  authorities.  It  had 
developed  the  manhood  of  tho  convicts,  inspired  self-respect, 
soothed  their  feelings,  promoted  cheerfulness  and  industry,  and 
elevated  the  whole  tone  of  their  character  and  bearing.  The 
present  outfit  of  a  convict  in  the  Massachusetts  state  prison  is  as 
follows:  A  new  suit  of  clothes  made  of  blue  satinet,  such  as  any 
workingman  might  wear;  a  pair  of  stout  shoes,  two  shirts,  two  under- 
shirts, two  pair  of  stockings,  two  pair  of  drawers,  and  a  towel — 
all  marked  with  his  own  name;  so  that  he  has  a  kind  of  property 
in  his  prison  clothes,  and,  contrary  to  what  happens  in  most  prisons, 
always  wears  the  same  garments.    This  also  has  a  tendency  to 


VNtTlD  8TATIS  AND  OaNADA. 


183 


cultivate  the  selfrespect  of  th%  convicts^  and  so  far  becomes  an 
agent  in  thotr  refomtatiom 

The  discontinuance  of  the  particolored  citthing  is  no  novelty 
in  other  C(  itrie0>  howtavcr  much  it«  «boli«htiicr>f  is  opposed  by 
many  of  our  Arcorican  wardens^  tn  aomi'  of  the  En^'lisli  and  all 
the  Scottish  prisotis,  the  distinctive  prix^on  garb  \\n»  been  discarded, 
In  the  prisons  of  jSiBOtlMid,  the  clothing  is  free  from  anytbing  thai 
van  serve  to  degrade  their  inmates  in  their  ()\vii  estimation,  What 
is  aimed  lit  is  to  give  the  prisoner  that  neat,  durable,  and  cheap 
kind  of  diTSs  which  a  thrifty  worliing  man  or  woman  would  bo 
likely  to  wear  out  of  prison,  and  such  as  it  is  desirable  that  the 
prisoner  himself  should  wear  after  his  liberation.  In  the  Scottish 
prisons,  every  convicted  prisoner  is  supplied  with  u  complete 
prison  dvcan',  and  even  untried  prisoners  who  desire  it  arc,  iu  like 
manner,  furnished  with  full  suits  of  clothing.  In  point  of  fact, 
with  rare  exceptions,  the  untried  prisoners  wcnr  the  prison 
clothinj;. 

Thri-e  is  less  opposition  on  the  paii  of  prisoners  generally  to 
the  lock-step  than  to  the  purti>colorod  dress;  yet  some  regard  it 
with  extreme  disgust.  We  haver  known  convicts  to  be  exceedingly 
irritated  and  annoyed  by  it.  In  the  majority  of  state  prisons,  this- 
quHsi-military  step  is  in  use,  and  is  regarded  by  the  officers  as  a 
menus  of  keeping  prisoners  under  more  perfect  control,  and  as  an 
important  help  in  enforcing  discipline.  In  quite  a  number,  how- 
ever, it  is  not  employed.  It  is  not  in  use  in  the  provincial 
penitentiary  of  Canada,  where  the  discipline  is  otherwise  very 
strict;  nor  in  the  state  prisons  of  Kentucky,  Maine,  Missouri,  and 
Vermont.  In  these  prisons,  it  is  considered  as  of  no  conceivable 
benefit,  and  as  tending  only  to  irritate  and  disgust  the  prisoners. 
It  is  not  used  in  any  of  the  prisons  of  England.^  Certainly, 
it  is  fur  less  objectionable  than  the  parti-colored  garb; 
perhaps,  as  used  in  Massachusetts,  where  the  prisoners  march  in 
divisions,  at  a  full,  easy  step,  with  their  hands  hanging  at  their 
sides,  it  can  hardly  be  regarded  as  objectionable  at  all. 

In  most  of  the  prisons,  abundant  provision  is  made  for  quelling 
a  revolt  or  rebellion  by  the  convicts,  should  an  emergency  of  that 
kind  arise.  The  guard-rooms  are  well  supplied  with  arms  of 
various  descriptions,— ^rifles,  carbines,  &c.,  with  bayonets  attached; 
and  the  officers,  but  especially  the  guards,  when  on  duty,  go  well 
armed.  In  some  prisons,  as  that  of  Wisconsin,  for  example,  an 
alarm  is  arranged,  by  which,  in  a  case  of  this  kind,  the  citizens 
may  be  summoned  to  the  assistance  of  the  prison  authorities.   The 


184  PRISONS   AND  REFORM ATORIFS   OF   THE 

revolt  iit  Sing  Sing  prison,  Inst  ^mmer,  was,  as  we  have  seen, 
speedily  .sin)i)i<.ssecl  hy  the  courage  and  sagacity  of  the  guards. 

SECTION  SIXTH. 

MoRiVL  AND  Religious  Agencies. 

The  importance  of  suitable  and  adequate  provisions  for  the 
moral  and  religious  instruction  of  prisoners,  whether  regard  be 
had  to  public  Avorship,  Sunday  school  lessons,  daily  prayer  and 
reading  of  the  scriptures,  or  private  visitation,  can  scarcely  be 
exaggerated.  If  the  design  be  to  reform  and  restore  them  to 
virtue,  religion  is  needed  above  everything, — religion,  as  in  the 
life  of  the  family;  religion,  in  its  unbroken  integrity,  and  in  all 
its  living  and  saving  energy.  We  have  a  profound  conviction  of 
the  inctticacy  of  all  measures  for  reformation,  except  such  as 
are  based  on  religion,  impregnated  with  its  spirit,  and  vivified  by 
its  power.  In  vain  are  all  devices  of  repression,  coercion,  even 
of  counsel,  remonstrance  and  persuasion,  if  the  heart  and  con- 
science, which  are  beyond  all  power  of  external  restraint,  are  left 
untouched. 

Although  we  are  persuaded  that  the  religious  element  should, 
as  a  general  thing,  have  a  higher  development  and  be  made  more 
prominent  than  it  is  at  present  in  the  administration  of  American 
prisons,  yet  very  great  progress  has  been  made  in  this  direction, 
both  at  home  and  abroad,  and  far  more  attention  is  given  to  the 
subject  now  than  heretofore.  We  propose  to  introduce  the  present 
section  with  a  brief  sketch  of  what  has  been  done,  and  of  the  pro- 
gress made,  in  this  important  department  of  prison  discipline. 

Prior  to  the  time  of  John  Howard,  thd  physical  condition  of 
the  inmates  of  English  prisons  was  disgusting  and  horrible  to  the 
last  degree;  and  their  moral  degradation,  the  coarseness  and  bru- 
tality of  their  minds,  kept  even  pace  with  the  disease  and  nn'sery 
of  theii"  bodies.  Chapels  and  chaplains  constituted  no  part  of  the 
penal  est.il>lishments  of  the  country.  Some  loose  parson,  on  the 
verge  of  insolvency,  was  sometimes  hired,  at  a  cheap  rate,  for  the 
office  of  ordinary.  On  a  week  day,  he  was  ready  to  crack  a  bottle 
of  gin  or  shuffle  a  pack  of  cards  with  his  flock;  on  a  Sunday, 
he  nuunbled  a  service  and  sermon  to  them  in  a  day  room.  His 
congrcgati(m  was  a  thin  one,  for  attendance  was  easily  evaded. 
In  cflect,  of  what  use  could  the  best  religious  teaching  have  been, 
as  prisons  were  then  constituted  and  conducted?  Little  more  than 
a  mere  casting  of  pearls  before  swine.      The  drunkenness  and 


UNITED  STATES  AND  CANADA. 


185 


almost  unbridled  debauchery  of  the  prisoners  would  have  thwarted 
the  labors  of  the  most  zealous  chaplain.  A  prison  was  a  hot-bed 
of  sensuality,  even  at  night  time  men  and  women  being  often 
huddled  together  in  the  same  room.  Latimer,  in  a  sermon 
preached  before  Edward  VI,  lifted  up  his  voice  against  the  un- 
checked heathenism  of  the  London  prisons.  "  Oh,  I  would," 
(says  he,)  "ye  would  resort  to  prisons,  a  commendable  thing  in  a 
christian  realm.  I  would  there  were  curates  of  prisons,  that  we 
might  say,  'the  curate  of  Newgate,'  'the  curate  of  the  Fleet;' 
and  I  would  have  them  waged  for  their  labor.  It  is  holy-day 
work  to  visit  the  prisoners,  for  they  be  kept  from  sermons." 

In  the  reign  of  Elizabeth,  Bernard  Gilpin  regularly  visited  all 
the  jails  that  fell  within  the  range  of  his  missionary  circuits  in 
the  northern  counties,  and  preached  to  their  inmates.  The  minis- 
ters who  iKere  ejected  from  their  pulpits  and  imprisoned  for  their 
violation  of  the  Act  of  Conformity,  preached  abundantly  to  the 
prisoners  in  the  jails;  among  whom  Joseph  Alleine  particularly 
distinguished  himself  by  his  zeal  and  success.  It  is  almost  always 
recorded  in  the  lives  of  the  humble  worthies  of  England  in  the 
sixteenth  and  seventeenth  centuries,  that  they  visited  those  who 
Avcre  '•  sick  and  in  prison." 

In  accordance  with  these  traditions  of  English  piety,  when  the 
"Godly  Club"  was  formed  at  Oxford,  the  Wesleys  and  its  other 
members  offered  their  first  ministrations  to  the  prisoners  in  the 
Castle.  The  good  work,  once  begun,  was  not  lightly  abandoned. 
For  some  jcars,  Whitfield,  the  Wesleys,  and  their  most  zealous 
followers  prayed,  preached,  and  distributed  alms  in  all  the  jails, 
])ridewells,  and  bedlams  that  came  within  their  circuits;  and  it 
was  only  on  compulsion  that  they  at  length  gave  up  this  part  of 
their  mission.  In  the  storm  and  tempest  of  their  unpopularity, 
the  doors  even  of  prisons  and  madhouses  wei'e  shut  against  them. 
It  was  then  that  John  Wesley  said:  "We  are  forbid  to  go  to 
Newgate  for  fear  of  making  them  wicked,  and  to  Bedlam  for  fear 
of  making  them  mad."  From  that  time,  he  and  his  brother 
Charles  discontinued  their  prison  visitations.  . . 

But  one  of  the  band  wjis  not  to  be  deterred  from  these  labors  of 
love  and  mercy.  Sarah  Peters,  a  woman  noted  for  the  fervency 
of  her  prayers  and  charity,  despite  the  jail-fever  which  was  raging 
in  the  prison,  taking  her  life  in  her  hand,  ministered,  day  after 
day,  in  the  name  of  God,  to  all  the  poor  wretches  under  sentence 
of  death,  until  at  length,  when  her  work  was  done,  she  sickened 


iff-- 


186 


PlUSONfl  AND  &BFOKMAT0BIS8  OF  THI 


and  died.  But  her  mantle  fell  upon,  her  spirit  entered  into,  a 
warmhearted  man,  named  Silas  Told,  by  whom  she  had  been 
accompanied  in  her  visits  to  the  jail.  For  25  years,  he  devoted 
his  energies  to  the  spiritual  welfare  of  condemned  malefactors  in 
every  part  of  England. 

In  the  year  1773,  the  same  in  which  Howard  became  high 
sheriff  of  Bedfordshire,  and  entered  upon  his  great  work  of  re* 
forming  prisons,  an  act  of  Parliament  was  passed,  authori^iing 
"  the  justices  at  their  quartepscsaions  to  appoint  chaplains  to  their 
jails,"  at  a  salary  not  exceeding  fifty  pounds  per  annum.  "This," 
observes  the  Rev.  Walter  L.  Clay,  in  his  Prison  Chaplain,  a  work 
to  which  we  are  indebted  for  the  foregoing  outline,  "  this  was  the 
first  official  recognition  of  the  fact  that  prisoners  are  within  the 
p.ale  of  salvation."  But,  happil}'  for  the  honor  of  humanity  and 
the  progress  of  civilization,  it  was  not  the  last.  The  English 
prisons  of  all  grades  arc  now.  well  supplied  with  chaplains;  men 
of  piety,  character  iind  worth;  quite  a  number  of  whom  have 
been  di.'jtinguishcd  t)y  great  and  shining  abilities. 

Inthefirat  annual  report  of  the  Boston  Prison  Discipline  Society, 
issued  in  1826,  there  is  au  interesting  survey  of  the  then  condition 
of  moral  and  religious  instruction  in  American  prisons,  from  which 
we  condense  the  following  statement: 

In  New  Hampshire,  at  that  time  only  $25  a  year  were  appropria- 
ted to  supply  the  state  prison  with  the  means  of  grace,  despite  the 
fact  that  the  prison  had  been,  for  some  years  previously,  making 
for  the  state  a  clear  profit  of  $1,000  to  $5,000.  It  is  worthy  of 
remark,  however,  that  the  warden,  Moses  C.  Pilsbury,  caused  the 
Scriptures  to  be  read  to  the  convicts  twice  a  day,  and  himself  con- 
ducted the  regular  service  of  the  Sabbath,  when  no  clergyman 
could  be  obtained  for  the  purpose.  In  Vermont,  whose  state  prison 
had  for  five  yeai's  been  almost  self-supporting,  only  $100  were 
appropriated  for  religious  instruction;  the  chapel  had  been  turned 
into  a  weaver's  shop;  only  an  occasional  service  was  held  on  the 
Sabbath;  and  there  was  no  daily  reading  of  the  Scriptures.  .  In 
Massachusetts,  where  the  state  prison  had,  for  the  2  preceding  years, 
yielded  a  clear  revenue,  over  all  expenses,  of  $13,000,  $200  a  year 
only  were  devoted  to  the  religious  instruction  of  more  than  300 
convicts.  There  was  only  one  short  service  on  the  Sabbath,  and 
no  daily  reading  of  the  Scriptures  to  the  prisoners;  nor  did  the  chap- 
lain perform  any  official  duty  in  the  prison  during  the  week.  In  Con- 
nocticut,  thougha  morelibcral  provision,  in  proportion  to  the  number 


VNITID  STATES  AKD  OANADA. 


187 


of  the  convicts,  was  made  for  their  religious  instruction,  the  chaplain 
did  not  reside  in  or  near  the  prison,  and  the  moral  influence  exerted 
over  the  prisoners  is  said  to  have  been  far  from  what  it  should 
have  been.  In  Ne>.'  York,  the  duties  of  the  chaplain  of  the  state 
prison  in  the  metropolitan  city  were  devolved  upon  Eev.  Mr.  Stan* 
ford,  a  man  more  than  seventy  years  of  age,  who  was  also,  at  the 
same  time,  chaplain  of  the  penitentiary,  the  bridewell,  the  debtors^ 
jail,  the  city  hospital,  and  the  almS'house — four  penal  and  two 
eleemosynary  institutions,  containing  altogether  from  two  thous* 
and  to  three  thousand  inmates.  This  venerable  man  was  in  the 
habit  of  preaching  regularly  at  least  ten  sermons  a  week;  but 
"what  were  they  among  so  many?"  Neither  in  New  Jersey, 
Pennsylvania,  Maryland  nor  Virginia,  was  any  provision  whatever 
made  by  the  state  for  the  moral  and  religious  instruction  of  her 
convicted  felons.  In  two  of  these  states — New  Jersey  and  Vir- 
ginia— month  after  month  frequently  pansed  without  a  religiou» 
service  of  any  kind;  and  in  the  other  two,  whatever  religious 
instruction  the  prisoners  received  was  given  by  benevolent  indi- 
viduals or  societies;  was  altogether  gratuitous;  and,  as  a  matter  of 
course,  was  scanty,  irregular,  and  sometimes  not  of  the  most  desi- 
rable character. 

Thus  it  appears  that  in  1826,  as  far  as  thisrcporjt  gives  informa- 
tion, there  was  not  a  resident  chaplain  in  any  state  prison  in  the 
United  States,  and  the  religions  instruction  imparted  was  for  the 
most  part,  reduced  down  to  the  merest  modicum.  Who  can  won- 
der that  a  penitentiary  system,  characterised  by  an  omission  so 
fundamental,  a  neglect  of  the  means  of  success  so  signal  and  con-' 
spicuous,  should  have  come,  in  the  end,  to  disastrous  and  inglorious 
failure?  Doubtless  there  were  other  elements  in  the  system,  tend- 
ing strongly  in  the  same  direction;  bnt  none  more  potent  or  fatal 
than  this. 

This  meluncholy  exposition,  in  the  report  of  1826,  of  the  want 
of  moral  and  religious  instruction  in  the  prisons  of  the  country 
seems  to  have  produced  a  strong  impression  on  the  public  mind, 
to  have  turned  the  thoughts  of  practical  men  more  intently  to 
the  study  of  the  subject,  and  to  have  led  to  efforts,  more  or  less 
extensive,  towards  improvement.  The  report  of  the  following 
year  contained  an  expression  of  opinion  in  favor  of  the  adoption 
of  a  more  comprehensive  and  thorough  system  of  moral,  religious 
and  intellectual  instruction  for  prisoners  than  had  hitherto  pre- 
vailed, on  the  part  of  the  following  gentlemen:  Dr.  Rose,  super- 


188 


PRISONS  A.>D  REFORMATORI^  OF  THE 


intendcnt  of  the  state  prison  of  Maine;  Moses  C.  Pilsbury,  warden 
of  the  New  Hampshire  state  prison;  Mr.  Lynds,  superintendent  of 
Sing  Sing  prison;  Mr.  Powers,  keeper  of  Auburn  prison;  Mr. 
McLean,  keeper  of  the  state  penitentiary  of  Ohio,  and  Mr.  Par- 
sons, keeper  of  the  Virginia  penitentiary.  Resident  chaplains, 
through  pecuniary  aid  furnished  by  the  prison  discipline  society, 
were  phiced  at  Auburn  and  Sing  Sing,  whose  labors  proved 
in  a  high  degree  acceptable  both  to  officers  and  men,  and  very 
profitable  to  the  latter.  In  Auburn,  under  the  superintendence 
of  the  chaplain  and  through  the  co-operation  of  the  students  in 
the  theological  seminary,  a  Sabbath  school  was  instituted  for  young 
convicts,  the  privilege  of  attendance  upon  which  was  embraced 
with  avidity  and  thankfulness.  To  show  how  much  this  privi- 
lege was  prized,  the  case  of  a  convict  is  mentioned,  who,  being 
about  to  to  be  punished  for  some  violation  of  prison  rules,  entreat- 
ed that  any  punishment  might  be  inflicted  on  him  other  than  that 
of  removal  from  the  Sunday  school.  To  evince  the  excellent  moral 
influence  exerted  upon  the  convicts  through  this  agency,  a  state- 
ment is  made  of  the  case  of  a  3'oung  Indian,  naturally  intelligent, 
but  grossly  ignorant,  who,  having  asked  leave  of  his  keeper  to 
speak  to  him,  said  that  he  had  been  a  bad  boy,  would  lie  and 
steal,  but  had  nr)w  learned  that  such  things  were  wicked,  and  he 
wanted  to  go  to  the  warden,  confess  his  faults,  and  promise  that 
he  would  never  disobey  God  any  more.  At  Sing  Sing,  as  well  as 
at  Auburn,  the  chaplain  not  only  conducted  public  worship  in  the 
chapel  on  the  Lord's  day,  but  read  the  Scriptures  and  offered 
prayer  every  evening,  so  that  the  last  words  heard  by  the  convicts 
before  retiring  to  bed  were  words  of  religious  instruction  and 
ccmsolation. 

In  the  report  of  the  same  society  for  1828,  still  further  and 
very  decided  progress  is  shown  in  the  right  direction.  In  the 
Maine  prison,  a  chapel  was  erected,  and  a  weekly  Sabbath  service 
instituted  ;  but  no  Sunday  or  evening  school  was  organized,  and 
no  morning  or  evening  prayers,  with  reading  of  the  Scriptures, 
introduced.  Vermont  doubled  her  annual  appropriation,  making 
it  two  hundred  instead  of  one  hundred  dollars,  for  the  purpose  of 
supplying  her  prison  at  Windsor,  with  more  constant  and  sys- 
tematic religious  instruction.  Massachusetts  raised  her  appropria- 
tion to  five  hundrad  dollars,  with  the  view  of  procuring  a  chaplain 
who  should  devote  his  whole  time  to  official  duty  within  her  state 
prison.     In  Connecticut,  provision  was  made  for  regular  public 


UNITED  8TATE8  AND  CANADA. 


189 


service  on  the  Sabbath,  in  addition  to  daily  reading  of  the  scrip* 
tures  and  prayer  l>y  the  warden.  In  New  Yorit,  the  legislature 
appropriated  three  hundred  dollars  towards  the  salary  of  the 
chaplain  at  Sing  Sing;  and  the  venerable  Mr.  Stanford,  now  almost 
an  octogenarian,  continued,  as  aforetime,  his  numerous  appointments 
in  the  humane  and  penal  institutions  in  the  city  of  New  York.  In 
New  Jersey,  a  large  room  was  fitted  up  in  the  prison  for  a  chapel,  and 
the  members  of  the  Prison  Discipline  Society  in  the  theological 
seminary  at  Princeton,  by  their  committee,  conducted  religious 
worship  every  Sabbath  during  the  year,  with  one  or  two  excep- 
tions, always,  at  the  same  time,  distributing  tracts  to  the  convicts, 
and  visiting  and  conversing  with  them  in  their  solitary  cells.  In 
the  Walnut  street  prison,  at  Philadelphia,  public  worship  was 
regularly  kept  up  on  the  Sabbath,  and  a  Bible  class  and  Sunday 
school  as  regularly  instructed,  all  by  volunteer  and  unpaid  labor- 
ers. In  the  Maryland  penitentiary',  the  ministers  of  the  Metho- 
dist Episcopal  church  sustained  a  religious  service  on  the  Lord's 
day,  both  among  the  male  and  female  convicts,  once  a  day  in 
winter  and  twice  in  summer.  In  Ohio,  the  Synod  of  the  Presby- 
terian church  appointed  and  supported  a  preacher  for  the  state 
prison  at  Columbus,  the  members  of  the  Synod  contributing  per- 
sonally the  necessary  means  to  this  end,  as  they  had  no  fund  upon 
which  they  could  draw  for  such  a  purpose.  So  much  was  done 
in  1828,  and  certainly  it  was  a  great  advance  on  previous  efforts, 
to  provide  for  and  communicate  religious  instruction  in  the  prisons 
of  the  United  States. 

No  further  notice  is  taken  of  this  subject  in  the  reports  of  the 
society,  till  we  come  to  that  of  1833.  From  this  report  wo  learn 
that  in  almost,  if  not  quite,  all  the  state  prisons  of  the  country, 
every  cell  was  supplied  with  a  copy  of  the  whole  Bible  or  the 
New  Testament,  most  commonly  the  former.  It  had  become 
almost  as  much  a  matter  of  course  to  see  this  book  of  books  lying 
on  the  little  shelf  of  the  solitary  cell,  as  to  see  the  fastening  of 
the  door  which  secured  the  convict's  person.  The  Bibles  were, 
in  nearly  every  case,  provided  by  the  state.  The  uniform  testi- 
mony of  the  wardens  was  that  they  were  much  used  by  the  con- 
victs, many  of  whom  had  learned  to  read  in  prison,  and  multitudes 
of  inquiries  were  proposed  to  the  chaplains  concerning  the  mean- 
ing of  the  sacred  page.  In  cases  not  a  few,  its  pungent  truths 
had  proved  like  the  tire  and  hammer,  and  what  was  begun  to  be 


190 


PRISONS  AND  BXFORMATOMBS  Of  THE 


read,  pei'haps,  with  the  design  of  finding  matter  for  cavil,  had 
penetrated  the  conscience,  as  a  nail  in  a  sure  place. 

But  the  living  teacher  ia  as  necessary  in  a  prison  ns  the  inspired 
V  olume.  It  is  by  the  foolishness  of  preaching  that  it  has  pleased  God 
to  save  them  that  believe.  It  is,  therefore,  pleasing  to  notice  that 
resident  chaplaincies  had  been  established  in  Vermont,  Massa- 
chusetts, Connecticut,  New  York,  and  the  District  of  Columbia, 
and  that  in  the  prisons  of  most  of  the  other  states,  chaplains  were 
employed  to  conduct  religious  services  on  the  Sabbath  for  the 
benefit  of  their  inmates.  And  highly  beneficial  the  labors  of  the 
chaplains  were  found  to  be ;  and  they  were  no  less  acceptable 
than  useful.  The  prisoners  generally  conceived  a  strong  affection 
fpr  their  chaplain,  us  their  best  friend  and  counsellor.  Many — 
such  is  the  testimony  of  the  chief  oflScers — were  morally  reformed 
through  their  faithful  efforts  :  and  some,  there  is  reason  to  believe, 
truly  and  savingly  converted.  It  may  be  proper,  and  the  informa- 
tion will  be  interesting  to  some,  to  state,  in  this  connection,  that 
the  first  resident  chaplain  in  this  country,  the  Rev.  Jared  Curtis, 
'  was  employed  in  the  Auburn  prison,  N.  Y.  When  that  office  was 
instituted  in  the  state  prison  at  Charlestown,  Mass.,  Mr.  Curtis 
received  and  accepted  an  invitation  to  become  the  incumbent. 
.  From  the  report  of  this  year,  1833,  we  further  learn  that  in  not 
less  than  ten  state  prisons,  Sabbath  schools  had  been  organized, 
which  were  represented  as  flourishing  and  exceedingly  useful. 
So  successful,  indeed,  had  this  agency  proved,  and  so  much  was  it 
prized  by  inspectors,  officers  and  prisoners,  that  a  Sabbath  school 
in  a  prison  had  come  to  be  looked  upon  as  an  essential  element  in 
a  good  system  of  prison  discipline.  The  number  of  teachers  em- 
ployed in  prison  Sabbath  schools  wtis  about  one  hundred,  and  the 
number  of  convicts  receiving  instruction,  fifteen  hundred.  As  to 
Auburn  belongs  the  honor  of  having  had  the  first  resident  chap- 
lain in  the  prisons  of  the  United  States,  so  the  first  prison  Sab- 
bath school  was  organized  in  the  state  prison  at  that  place.  This 
was  doubtless  one  of  the  good  results  of  having  had  a  resi- 
dent chaplain;  for  it  is  not  likely  that  any  person,  other  than  one 
of  tried  wisdom  and  prudence,  would  have  been  permitted  by 
the  authorities  to  introduce  into  the  prison  a  system  of  Sabbath 
sehool  instruction;  but  the  chaplain  was  able  to  do  it,  to  the  satis- 
faction of  all  concerned,  without  violating  any  of  the  prison  rules, 
and  to  the  great  advantage  of  the  institution  in  all  respects. 


UMITBD  STATES  AND  CANADA. 


191 


Morning  and  evening  prayers  in  prisons  were  also  first  intro> 
duced  at  Auburn,  by  Mr.  Curtis,  while  filling  the  ofBce  of  resident 
chaplain  there;  and  this  excellent  custom  of  a  daily  service  of 
prnycr  was  adopted  in  all  the  prisons  to  which  full  chaplains  were 
appointed.  The  service  was  usually  lield  in  the  corridor  of  the  prison, 
in  front  of  the  cells,  after  the  prisoners  were  locked  up  for  the  night. 
The  voice  of  prayer,  falling  on  the  car  of  the  convict  in  his  soli- 
tary cell,  was  the  last  sound  of  the  human  voice  heard  by  him  before 
closing  his  eyes  in  sleep;  and  what  influence  could  have  been  more 
powerful  to  reclaim  the  wanderer,  to  beget  genuine  repentance  in 
his  soul,  and  to  restore  him  to  a  better  mind  and  a  better  life? 
The  importance  of  having  a  resident  chaplain  is  shown  in  the  fact 
that  this  practice  was  introduced  in  but  one  prison  where  the 
services  of  such  an  oflScer  were  not  enjoyed, — that  at  Wethers- 
fiekl.  Conn.,  presided  over  by  the  Pilsburys — father  and  son  in 
succession. 

The  siibject  of  religion  in  prisons  is  again  adverted  to  in  the 
report  of  1836.  Copious  extracts  are  given  from  the  annual 
reports  of  the  inspectors  of  the  eastern  penitentiary  in  Philadel- 
phia, the  directors  of  the  state  penitentiary  in  Ohio,  and  the  in- 
spectors of  the  provincial  penitentiary  in  Canada.  These  gentle- 
men, in  strong  and  forcible  language,  urge  upon  their  respective 
Legislatures  the  great  importance  of  appointing  resident  chaplains 
in  their  several  prisons,  and  point  out  the  many  signal  advantages 
to  be  expected  from  their  labors.  They  allege  that,  as  personal 
reformation,  to  be  permanent,  must  be  founded  on  religion,  so  no 
system  of  prison  discipline  can  be  efiectual,  in  which  religious 
teaching  does  not  form  a  prominent  part;  that  the  depravity  and 
vice,  found  in  every  jail,  has  led  to  an  impresssion,  far  too  general, 
that  most  criminals  are  beyond  the  reach  of  reformation;  that  a 
fair  trial  of  this  question  has  been  made  in  few,  if  any,  prisons; 
that  when  the  number  of  prisoners  is  considerable,  the  whole  time 
and  attention  of  a  chaplain  should  be  devoted  to  the  duties  of 
that  oflSce;  that,  valuable  as  are  the  public  services  of  religion, 
tboir  effect  on  prisoners  is,  in  general,  but  partial  and  unsatisfac- 
tory; that  the  labors  of  the  chaplain  should  not,  therefore,  becon- 
linecl  to  the  performance  of  social  worship;  that  to  this  should  be 
added  personal  instruction,  in  the  retirement  of  the  cell,  or  the 
conversi^tjon  of  the  o^ce;  that,  to  this  end,  the  chaplain  should 
be  authorised,  at  his  discretion,  to  take  a  prisoner  aside  and  con- 
fer with  biw  in  priyftte,  at  my  time  during  the  hours  of  labor,  as 


192 


PRISONS  AND  REFORMATORIES  OF  THE 


we\l  H8  lit  the  door  of  his  cell,  after  the  close  of  his  dnily  tusk; 
and, that,  finally,  to  insure  the  undivided  and  cheerful  application 
of  his  energies  to  the  moral  improvement  of  his  charge,  ho  should 
receive  a  ualary  liberal  enough  for  the  comfortable  support  of 
himself  and  family,  without  the  necessity  for  '"course  to  other 
employment.  These  Avise  and  earnest  pleadings  had  the  desired 
effect.  Full  chaplaincies  were  established  in  the  penitentiaries 
named,  and  were  attended  with  the  same  happy  results  as  their 
institution  in  other  prisons. 

The  progress  of  Sabbath  schools  in  prisons,  and  their  great 
utility  and  popularity  among  prisoners,  are  also  noticed  in  the 
report  of  1.836.  The  formation  of  such  a  school  in  the  peniten- 
tiary of  the  District  of  Columbia  is  recorded,  and  its  flourishing 
state  and  beneficial  results  are  set  forth  in  glowing  terms.  Its 
success  had  far  exceeded  expectation.  At  least,  twenty-five  pris- 
oners, among  whom  were  some  very  unpromising  subjects,  had, 
during  the  two  years  of  its  existence,  learned  to  read,  and  had 
acquired  such  a  mastery  of  the  art  as  to  be  able  to  peruse  the 
Scriptures  with  comfort,  and  advantage.  In  this  school,  a  new 
feature  was  introduced,  that  of  employing  the  convicts  themselves 
in  the  work  of  teaching  their  fellow-convicts;  and  the  experiment 
appears  to  have  been  attended  with  entire  success.  The  chaplain 
remarks  :  "  I  have  been  materially  aided  in  the  school  by  some 
of  the  prisoners,  who  have  been  selected  by  the  warden  as  moni- 
tors. They  seem  to  find  a  pleasure  in  imparting  knowledge,  and 
I  believe  they  have  been  themselves  materially  benefited  by  the 
exercises.  From  all  my  observation,  since  I  have  had  the  honor 
to  serve  the  institution,  I  am  convinced  that  Sabbath  school  in- 
atl^uction  in  our  penitentaries,  may  bo  rendered  one  of  the  most 
efficient  aids  in  the  work  of  reformation."  In  all  the  other  prison 
Sundaj'  schools,  large  numbers  of  convicts  were  taught  to  read. 
in  that  of  Auburn  alone,  four  hundred  had,  in  the  course  of  ten 
years,  gained  a  competent  knowledge  of  this  elementary,  but  im- 
portant science,  who  were  totally  ignorant  of  it  when  committed 
to  the  prison. 

We  will  not,  however,  pursue  this  history  further;  but  will 
come  at  once  to  an  exhibition  of  the  present  status  of  religious 
instruction  in  the  prisons  of  the  United  States  and  Canada,  as  wc 
gathered  it  from  our  personal  observations  and  from  the  docu- 
ments, manuscript  and  printed,  which  are  mentioned  in  the  intro- 
duction to  this  report. 


UNITED  STAT£!S  AND  CANADA. 


193 


"VVo  begin  with  Canada.    Much  attention  is  given  to  the  reli- 
gions instruction  of  the  convicts  in  the  provincial  pontitcntiary  ut 
Kingston.     The  prison  has  two  chaplains:  a  Roman  catholic  priest, 
to  minister  to  the  catholic  population,  and  a  protcstant  pastor,  to 
care  for  the  spiritual  interests  of  the  protestant  convicts.     Wo  did 
not  have  the  good  fortune  to  meet  the  former,  though  we  heard  u 
good  report  of  his  labors;  the  latter  we  saw  and  became  well  ac- 
quainted with;  and  it  is  but  justice  to  say  that  he  appeared  to  us 
eminently  qualified  for  his  position.     Of  his  untiring  industry  and 
the  vast  amount  of  work  done  by  him,  we  can  speak  only  in  terms 
of  commendation.     Mr.  Mulkins  has  been,  for  some  fifteen  years, 
discharging  the  duties  of  protcstant  chaplain  in  this  prisoil.     He 
holds,  and  we  fully  j'gree  with  him,  that  the  great  mission  of  peni- 
tentiaries is  to  imi)rove  the  mental  and  moral  condition  of  their 
inmates,  to  implant  in  them  the  seeds  and  the  love  of  virtue,  to 
supply  them  wi  h  motives  to  a  better  life,  and  to  animate  them 
with  higher,  purer,  and  more  godly  hopes.     And,  truly,  for  the 
state  to  take  these  children  of  many  races — these  outcasts  of  many 
nations — these  delinquents  of  many  creeds;  often  diseased  in  body 
and  always  disordered  in  their  moral  powers;  ignorant  in  all 
things,  but  especially  ignorant  of  religion;   vitiated,   depraved, 
fallen  and  stained  with  guilt — and  to  seek,  by  wise  and  patient 
efforts,  to  overcome  their  ignorance,  to  repress  their  evil  nature, 
to  impart  habits  of  industry,  to  instil  right  principles,  and  to  sur- 
round them  continually  with  agencies  and  influences  adapted  to 
make  them  wiser  and  better  men;  this  is  a  purpose  and  a  labor, 
whoso  grandeur  and  nobility  it  would  be  difficult  to  exaggerate. 
An  observation  and  experience,  extending  through  fifteen  years, 
have  convinced  Mr.  Mulkins  that  this  exalted  design — the  noblest 
that  a  state  can  entertain  towards  its  fallen  and  offending  children — 
may,  in  a  great  degree,  be  accomplished;  but  only  as  it  is  acknow- 
ledged to  be  the  chief  aim  of  imprisonment,  and  all  other  things 
are  made  subordinate  and  subservient  to  it. 

The  convicts  attend  a  daily  service  in  the  chapel,  where  a  por- 
tion of  scripture  is  read,  confession  of  sin  made,  and  prayer  offered 
to  God  for  his  favor  and  blessing.  Two  public  religious  services 
are  held  on  the  Lord's  day,  and  one  in  the  middle  of  the  week, 
immediately  after  dinner,  at  each  of  which  a  sermon  is  preached. 
At  none  of  these  services  is  there  any  singing,  which,  in  our  opinion  ^ 
is  a  great  defect,  and  much  abridges  their  utility.  Every  protcst- 
ant prisoner  is  provided  with  a  copy  of  the  scriptures,  and  several 
[Assera.  No.  35.J  13 


101 


PRISONS  AND  REFORMATORIES  OF  THE 


religious  tracts  aud  ouc  religious  book  are  supplied  to  each,  monthly. 
These  are  much  read  by  the  prisoners.  Many  have  road  the  Bible 
through  several  times,  others  once,  and  some  only  portions  of  it. 
8ome  Imvo  committed  to  memory,  of  course  of  their  own  free 
choice,  entire  books  of  tiui  Bible,  others  whole  chapters.  Some 
can  repeat  many  of  the  psalms;  some  the  entire  litany  and  most  of 
the  morning  prayers;  and  scores  have  learned  by  heart  the  whole 
catechism.  The  convicts  are  also  taught  abort  prayers,  that  they 
may  ofter  them  up,  night  and  morning,  privately  in  their  cells. 

There  is  no  Sunday  school.  We  think  that  one  of  the  public 
services  of  the  Sabbath  might  bo  profitably  replaced  by  such  a 
school. 

Much  attention  is  paid  to  the  spiritual  improvement  of  the  con- 
vict women.  They  spend  a  part  of  each  day  in  reading  the  Bible 
and  religious  books.  They  have  religious  worship  twice  a  daj'. 
They  attend  the  two  religious  services  of  the  Sabbath,  and  once 
during  the  week  are  visited,  exhorted  and  prayed  with,  by  a  vol- 
unteer female  worker.  No  available  means  to  reclaim  and  reform 
them  seem  neglected. 

In  giving  personal  religious  instruction  to  the  convicts,  Mr. 
Mulkins  is  indefatigable.  Ho  sends  for  each  convict  under  his 
care  once  a  month;  talks  with  him  privately;  teaches  him  his 
catechism;  inquires  into  his  religious  state;  gives  him  advice 
suited  to  his  case;  exhorts  and  encourages  him  to  reform,  explains 
to  him  his  special  duties  as  a  convict,  and  his  general  duties  as  a 
man;  socks  to  remove  irritation  from  his  mind;  studies  the  best 
mode  of  reaching  his  heart;  and  at  the  close  of  the  interview 
makes  a  brief  record  of  it  in  a  book  kept  for  the  purpose.  He 
also  visits  the  sick  to  converse  and  pray  with  them,  always  weekly, 
often  daily.  We  did  not  wonder,  no  one  can  wonder,  at  a  remark 
made  by  him,  that  it  is  too  much  labor  for  one  man.  There  is 
scarcely  a  convict,  he  says,  who  is  not  pleased  with  thes6  inter- 
views; and  even  those  who  may  not  be  religiously  improved  by 
them,  are  yet  softened  in  their  temper,  and  made  morally  bolter. 

It  has  ever  been  the  opinion  of  Mr.  Mulkins  (so  he  avers)  that 
a  congregation  in  prison  should  be  managed,  as  far  as  possible,  in 
the  same  way  as  any  other;  and  that,  as  religious  improvement  is 
the  end  in  view,  its  members  should  have  the  same  means  of  grace 
as  those  enjoyed  b}'  other  congregations.  Hence,  since  the  year 
1860,  he  has  regularly  administered  the  communion  to  such  pris- 


UNITED  STATES  AND  CANADA. 


in 


oners  as  desirctl  it,  gave  evidence  of  true  penitence,  and  appeared 
properly  prepared  by  religious  knowledge  and  experience. 

A  good  idea  may  Im  obtained  of  tlio  nature  and  extent  of  the 
vliaplain's* duties,  as  well  as  of  the  orderly  manner  in  M'hich  ho 
discharges  them,  from  the  following  enumeration  of  the  record 
hooks  kept  by  him:  1.  A  daily  journal  of  all  items  of  duty  done; 
2.  A  register,  containing  the  personal  history  of  each  convict;  3. 
A  record  of  monthly  religious  conversations  with  prisoners;  4.  A 
oommunicants'  book,  in  which  are  recorded  the  monthly  conversa- 
tions with  communicants  and  with  others  who  desire  to  become 
such;  5.  An  index,  in  which  are  entered,  in  alphabetical  order, 
the  name  and  registered  number  of  each  protestant  convict  re- 
ceived, and  of  all  removals  as  thej'  occur;  6.  A  directory  of  the 
convict  population,  showing  the  cells  in  which  each  is  kept,  and 
all  the  changes  of  location  which  are  made  from  time  to  time.;  7.  A. 
hospital  book,  in  which  are  entered  the  names  of  the  sick  and  the 
visits  made  to  them  for  religious  conversation  and  prayer;  8.  A 
register  of  the  convict  women,  and  of  the  monthly  religious  con- 
versations held  with  them;  9.  A  catalogue  of  the  religious  library; 
10.  A  I'egister,  in  which  is  entered  monthly,  the  name  of  any 
book  which  may  have  been  given  out  to  a  convict,  together  with 
the  fact  of  its  return. 

From  the  above  statement  may  be  seen  at  a  glance  the  great 
amount  and  variety  of  work  done  by  this  devoted  and  faithful 
man;  work  as  beneficent  in  its  effects  as  it  must  be  exhausting  in 
its  performance. 

Upon  the  whole,  the  religious  influence  pervading  this  prison 
constitutes  one  of  its  most  marked  and  pleasing  characteristics. 
The  undersigned  have,  also,   noticed  with  pleasure  the  strongly 


religious    tone    running    through    the    annual    reports    of    the 


inspectors.  These  gentlemen  hold  the  opinion,  decidedly,  that 
all  measures  for  the  reformation  of  criminals  will  prove  unavail- 
ing, except  such  as  arc  based  upon  religion,  and  go  hand  in  hand 
with  it.  They  believe  it  to  bo  useless  to  multiply  punishments 
and  reformatory  agencies,  unless  the  heart  is  touched,  and  the 
conscience  enlightened  and  invigorated.  It  is  moral  discipline, 
to  which,  above  and  before  all  other  means,  the  inspectors  direct 
their  chief  attention,  and  bend  their  most  dilligent  efforts.  They 
gladly  and  cordially  co-operate  with  the  chaplains,  and  do  all  they 
<vm  to  aid  them  in  their  high  and  holy  mission. 
On  an  average,  about  two-thirds  of  the  convicts  attend  upon 


196 


PRISONS  AND  REFORMATORIES  OF  THE 


tho  ministry  of  tbo  protostant  chaplain,  and  the  cmaining  third 
upon  that  of  the  catholic  chaplain.  Each  of  those  officers  has  a 
chapel,  appropriately  fitted  U[)  in  accordance  with  tho  nsages  of 
his  own  church,  and  having  scats  for  the  women  apart  from  thotic 
of  tho  men.  The  chaplains  are  expected  to  bo  present  daily  in 
their  respective  offices,  that  they  may  give  attention  to  tho  spiritual 
wants  of  tho  convicts  severally  under  their  charge.  They  may 
snmmon  any  prisoner  at  any  hour  of  the  day  from  any  part  of  the 
premises  for  tho  purpose  of  holding  religious  conversation  with  him. 
It  is  made  their  duty  to  give  especial  attention  to  the  sick. 

Of  tho  state  prisons  in  tho  United  States  visited  by  us,  those 
of  New  Hampshire,  Massachusetts,  Connecticut,  New  York,  New 
Jersey,  Pennsylvania,  Michigan,  Ohio,  Indiana  and  Wisconsin 
have  resident  chaplains,  most  of  whom  have  ofKccs  in  their  respec- 
tive prisons,  and  devote  their  whole  time  to  their  appropriate 
work;  while  Vermont,  Maine,  Rhode  Island,  Delaware,  Maryland, 
West  Virginia,  Kentucky,  Missouri  and  Illinois,  are  Avithout  this 
advantage.  Two  of  these  last  named  states — Delaware  and 
West  Virginia — as  already  stated,  have  no  state  penitentiaries, 
but  imprison  their  felons  in  tho  county  jails  of  Now  Castle  and 
Wheeling.  What  their  arrangements  may  be  (if  they  have  any) 
for  tho  religious  instruction  of  their  prisoners,  wo  are  unable  to 
gay.  In  the  Maryland  state  prison,  an  excellent  and  devoted  lay- 
man,  a  volunteer  worker — Mr.  Wisong — holds  a  Sabbath  school 
each  Lord's  day;  and,  we  believe,  a  public  service  in  connection 
"with  it,  for  the  benefit  of  all  the  prisoners.  In  the  state  peni- 
tentiary at  Joliet,  Illinois,  a  worthy  Methodist  clergyman,  who 
resides  in  another  part  of  the  state,  is  employed,  at  a  moderate 
salary,  to  preach  to  tho  convicts  on  the  Sabbath;  but,  as  a  matter 
of  course,  ho  can  perform  little  pastoral  labor,  which,  after  all,  is 
tho  most  important  and  the  most  telling.  The  other  five  iirisons 
named — to  wit,  Vermont,  Maine,  Rhode  Island,  Kentucky  and 
Missouri — have  stated  preaching  on  the  Sabbath,  either  from  the 
several  pastors  in  rotation,  or  from  a  single  pastor,  resident  in 
their  several  localities;  but  not  much  service  beyond  this  is  or 
can  be  given  by  these  partial  chaplains  in  behalf  the  prisoners. 

Sabbath-schools  arc  found  in  the  prisons  of  Connecticut,  North- 
ern Indiana,  Maryland,  Massachusetts,  New  Hampshire,  Michigan, 
Ohio,  Rhode  Island  and  New  York,  with  the  exception  of  the  male 
prison  at  Sing  Sing ;  and  in  Vermont,  a  Bible-class  is  held  on  a 
week  day.    In  the  prison  of  Northern  Indiana  and  the  female 


school.     Tl 


UNITED  8TATES  AND  CANADA. 


197 


priiion  at  Sing  Sing,  the  Subbnth-scliool  is  itltendcd  by  tho  whole 
body  of  convicts.    In  the  other  prisons  niiincd,  the  usage  as  to 
uttoniliinco  varies.     In  sonic,  all  prisoners  are  ailmittod  to  tho 
privileges  of  the  school,  who  desire  it;   in  others,  a  selection  is 
niade  of  the  more  >vf)rthy,  particularly  among  those  who  most 
need  and   are  most  likely  to  bo  profited  by  such  instruction. 
AVherever  a  prison  has   i  resident  chaplain,  it  is  a  uniform  rule 
that  he  acts  as  superintendent;  but  in  the  femule  prison  at  Sing 
Slug,  that  duty  is  performed  by  the  matron.     In  most  of  the  Sun- 
day-schools, the  superintendent  is  aided  by  other  officers  of  tho 
institutions,  even  in  some  instances  by  the  wardens,  Avbo  act  as 
teachers  of  classes,  and  generally  also  by  volunteer  laborers  from 
outside.     Without  having  exact  data  for  tho  statement,  the  best 
judgment  we  can  form  from  facts  within  our  knowledge  is,  that 
from  1,500  to  2,000  convicts  in  our  various  state  penitentiaries  are 
receiving  instruction  from  some  200  teachers  in  the  Sabbath- 
school.     The  unanimous  testimony  of  the  authorities  is,  that  the 
prisoners,  as  a  general  thing,  are  much  interested  in  the  exercises 
of  their  school,  and  that  not  a  few  are  making  commendable  pro- 
gress in  religious  knowledge.     The  following  statement  of  tho 
Ilev.  Joseph  A.  Caniield,  chaplain  and  sujicrintendent  of  the  Sun- 
day-school in  Clinton  prison,  N.  Y.,  may  servo  as  a  specimen.    He 
.says  :  *'  Convicts  who  attend  the  Sunday-school  manifest  a  good 
degree  of  interest  therein.     After  prayer  and  singing,  I  first 
examine  the  prisoners  on  two  iieneral  questions  that  have  been 
given  out  tho  previous  sab' at i     to  be  answered  from  the  Bible 
[such  as,  What  is  the  Bible  testimony  concerning  stealing,  profane 
swearing.  Sabbath  observance,  repentance,  faith,  &c.,  &c.?]     So 
much  interest  is  taken  in  this  exeiHjise  that  sometimes  the  whole 
time  is  taken  up  with  scripture  citations  and  discussions  growing 
out  of  the  questions  proposed.     After  these  questions  are  disposed 
of  and  the  general  exorcise  is  thus  closed,  the  couvicts  recite  iu 
classes  to  their  respective  teachers,  using  for  this  purpose  Dr. 
Clark's  Questions  on  the  Heroes  of  the  Bible.     I  have  no  doubt, 
in  fact  I  feel  the  strongest  conviction,  that  tho  school  is  highly 
beneficial  to  those  who  attend  it.    A  growing  knowledge  of  and 
interest  in  the  scriptures  is  most  evidently  the  result ;  for  proof 
of  which  I  may  state  the  fact  that  I  not  uufrequently  receive  calls 
from  convicts  during  the  week,  who  desire  religious  conversation, 
which  desire  has  been  excited  by  atteudance  ou  the  Sabbath-school. 
I  have  known  the  interest  of  more  than  one  coBvict  in  religious 


V 


198 


PRISONS  AND  REFORMATORIES  OF  THE 


m 


!l 


inquiries  excited  to  such  a  degree  that  they  have  read  through  the 
whole  of  Dwight's  Theology,  an  achievement  not  often,  perhaps, 
accomplished  by  laymen  outside  of  prison  walls." 

In  the  state  prison  of  Massachusetts,  a  daily  religious  service  i^ 
held  in  the  chapel  immediately  after  breakfast,  consisting  of  read- 
ing the  scriptures,  singing,  prayer,  and  brief  comments  or  exhorta- 
tions at  the  option  of  the  chaplain.  Similar  services  are  held  in 
the  Connecticut  state  prison  both  morning  and  evening.  In  both 
these  penitentiaries,  the  effect  of  this  daily  service  of  prayer  and 
worship  on  the  convicts  was  reported  to  us  as  tranquiliziug  and 
quieting  in  a  high  degree  ;  the  beneficial  influence  of  it  being  felt 
throughout  the  entire  day.  We  are  sorry  to  be  obliged  to  state 
that  these  are  the  only  prisons  visited  by  us,  and,  as  far  as  we 
know,  the  only  ones  in  the  United  States,  in  which  there  are  regu- 
lar week,  day  services  of  a  religious  character. 

In  all  the  state  prisons  which  we  visited  in  the  United  States, 
one  public  service  is  held  on  the  Lord's  day,  at  which  a  sermon  is 
preached.  In  somg  a  second  service  is  conducted  for  the  benefit 
of  the  female  prisoners,  and  a  third  for  that  of  the  sick  in  the 
hospital.  On  all  occasions  of  this  kind,  the  singing  of  hymns  forms 
a  part  of  the  worship,  and  in  this  the  convicts  very  generally 
unite.  It  happens,  also,  oftener  than  otherwise,  that  there  is  a 
regular  prison  choir  composed  of  convicts,  varying  in  number  from 
a  half  dozen  to  sixteen,  and  a  melodeon  as  well,  which  is  usually 
played  by  a  prisoner.  There  is  a  uniform  testimony  on  the  part 
of  the  prison  chaplains  to  the  softening,  soothing,  humanizing 
influence  of  sacred  song  on  these  fallen  men  and  women.  There 
can  be  no  doubt  that  singing  is  a  part  of  religious  worship,  which 
is  eminently  adapted  to  calm  the  passions  and  to  awaken  good 
feelings.  It  has  been  noticed  that  prisoners  have  often  been 
deeply  affected  by  it,  owing  doubtless  to  the  fact  that  it  has 
revived  thoughts  and  emotions  that  had  long  been  dormant.  The 
Rev.  Mr.  England,  formerly  chaplain  of  the  juvenile  prison  at 
Parkhurst,  in  the  Isle  of  Wight,  once  remarked  to  Mr.  F.  Hill, 
that  the  first  symptom  of  a  boy's  improvement  was  his  beginning 
to  join  in  the  singing,  which  at  that  prison  is  said  to  be  remarka- 
bly good. 

The  Lord's  supper  is  never  administered  in  any  of  our  state 
prisons,  but  baptism  is,  occasionally,  in  a  few ;  as  in  those  of  Ohio, 
Vermont,  Wisconsin,  and  by  the  Rev.  Mr.  Luckey  in  Sing  Sing, 


UNITED   STATES  AND   CANADA. 


199 


while  he  oflBciated  there  as  chaplain  ;  how  this  may  bo  under  his 
successor,  we  are  not  informed. 

A  convicts'  prayer  meeting  was  established  by  the  Rev.  John 
Luckey,  chaplain,  in  the  male  prison  at  Sing  Sing,  in  September, 
1862.  At  first,  it  was  held  once  a  fortnight,  but  has  since  been 
changed  to  a  weekly  service.  A  similar  meeting  was  also  organ- 
ized in  the  female  prison  in  1862,  which  was  attended  weekly 
from  the  start.  Both  these  meetings  have  continued  to  the  pre- 
sent time,  being  held  every  Wednesday  afternoon  for  one  hour. 
In  the  female  prison,  all  go  who  wish;  but  in  that  of  the  men,  no 
convict  can  join  the  meeting  as  a  member  but  by  permission  of  the 
chaplain;  nor  can  a  member  attend  any  particular  meeting,  unless 
he  has  completed  his  task  for  the  day.  One  of  your  commission- 
ers has,  upon  several  different  occasions,  attended  these  meetings. 
After  his  first  attendance,  he  published,  in  a  religious  newspaper, 
under  date  of  October  4,  1862,  some  accoimt  of  the  service,  from 
which  Ave  take  the  following  extract:  "  The  meeting  last  Monday, 
was  the  third  of  the  kind  ever  held  in  the  prison.  So  far,  every- 
thing has  gone  on  satisfactorily.  I  have  rarely,  if  ever,  attended 
a  religious  service  more  solemn,  interesting  or  touching.  Some 
thirty  or  more  convicts  gathered  in  the  chapel,  and  spent  an  hour 
together  in  prayer  and  religious  conference.  The  chaplain  pre- 
sided, and  took  the  general  direction  of  the  meeting;  but  the 
prayers  and  addresses  were  made  by  the  prisoners.  Considering 
the  character  and  culture,  or  rather  want  of  culture,  of  the  jjersons 
offering  them,  they  were  quite  remarkable.  A  portion  of  scrip- 
ture was  read,  and  probably  a  half  dozen  short  prayers  were 
offered,  and  as  many  brief  addresses  made,  interspersi-d  with  the 
singing  of  hymns.  They  were  direct,  simple,  earnest,  fervent. 
Some  of  them  gave  evidence  of  deep  emotion.  Several  of  the 
convicts  who  spoke  mentioned  that  their  attention  had  but  recently 
been  turned  to  the  subject  of  personal  religion.  A  marked  pecu- 
liarity of  the  prayers  was,  that,  in  almost  every  instance,  confes- 
sion was  made  in  the  first  person  singular.  A  convict  Avho  was 
unable  to  be  present,  sent  in  a  request  for  the  prayers  of  his 
fellow-prisoners;  and  the  petitions  offered  for  him  were  singularly 
fervent  and  importunate.  It  is  impossible,  of  course,  for  man  to 
read  the  heart;  but  the  Avholo  tone  and  spirit  of  the  meeting  were 
significant  of  sincerity  in  those  who  took  part  in  it.  Religion, 
the  interests  of  the  soul  and  of  immortality,  seemed  to  be  a  reality 
with  them;  seemed,  indeed,  for  the  time  at  least,  to  be  everything. 


200 


PRISONS  AND   REFORMATORIES  OP   THE 


The  hour  spent  in  the  convicts'  prayer  moethig,  avus  truly  nn  hour 
of  most  intense  interest,  and  has  left  a  record  upon  the  memory 
that  nothing  can  ever  efface."  The  average  attendance  has 
greatly  increased  since  the  date  of  the  above  extract,  and 
has  often  been  as  high  as  fifty  or  sixty.  The  chaplain  sub- 
mitted the  minutes  of  these  meetings  to  our  inspection.  One 
of  the  entries  is  in,  these  words:  "Only  about  one-third  of 
those  whom  we  have  admitted  to  our  prayer  meetings  are,  in  my 
opinion,  thoroughly  changed  in  heart.  The  remainder  are  seri- 
ously incliuedybj"  the  present.  If  they  fall  out  by  the  way,  which, 
under  their  peculiar  disadvantages,  would  not  surprise  us,  the 
present  restraint,  which  this  connection  imposes,  improves  the  dis- 
cipline, and  is  therefore  a  decided  benefit."  Another  record  is 
this  :  "  The  son  of  one  of  our  ministers,  who  has  been  a  great  grief 
to  his  pious  friends,  was  specially  Avrought  upon."  A  subsequent 
minute,  referring  to  the  same  case,   is  in  the  following  words  : 

"Poor was  most  deeply  affected  with  a  sense  of  his  sius. 

He  is  a  son,  the  only  son  of  a  minister.  May  he  soon  find  relief." 
At  another  time  the  chaplain  makes  this  entry:  "lam  satisfied 
that,  in  the  main,  the  object  of  those  who  attend  this  meeting  is 
spiritual  benefit.  But,  oh !  how  frail  and  ignorant  they  are ! 
Consequently,  we  hope  with  much  trembling."  After  the  25tli 
meeting,  he  says;  "Neither  on  this  or  any  former  occasion  was 
there  an  attempt  made  at  private  connuunicatlon.  In  fact,  I  never 
attended  any  social  meetings  more  silent,  orderly,  and  apparently 
devout  than  these  convict  prayer  meetings  have  been."  Many 
letters  have  been  received  from  convicts,  who  had  been  members 
of  the  meeting,  since  their  discharge — some  addressed  to  the  chap- 
lain, some  to  brother  convicts,  and  others  to  the  meeting  itself. 
These  U:tters  were  also  placed  in  our  hands  for  inspection.  "We 
could  wish  that  our  limits  would  permit  extracts.  The  spirit  of 
penitence,  humility,  faith,  prayer,  resolution,  and  apparent  sin- 
cerity, which  l)reathes  through  these  effusions  of  the  heart,  could 
then  be  seen  by  all.  The  present  chaplain,  lie  v.  J.  B.  Smith, 
informs  us  that  the  "  convicts'  prayer  meeting,"  according  to  the 
testimony  of  prisoners  who  have  known  it  from  the  start,  is  more 
largely  attended  than  over  before,  and  that  there  is  more  religious 
interest  among  the  convicts  than  has  heretofore  been  known. 

Subsequently  to  our  visit,  a  convicts'  prayer  meeting  was  ,iIso 
established  in  the  Massachusetts  state  prison  by  the  llev.  G.  J. 
Carletou,  chaplain;  in  reference  to  which,  in  his  annual  report, 


UNITED   STATES   AND   CANADA. 


201 


under  date  of  October  1,  1866,  he  hoi  Is  the  following  language: 
"  For  some  time  there  Avere  interesting  prayer  meetings  among  the 
convicts,  which  were  carried  on  with  much  earnestness  and  zeal. 
Some  outsiders,  who  occasionally  were  present,  expressed  not  only 
much  pleasure  but  astonishment  at  the  manner  in  which  the  meu 
Avould  pray,  exhort  and  sing.     Indeed,  the  prayey  meetings  here 
have  been  as  ably  sustained  as  the  chaplain  or  any  one  else  would 
tiiid  outside  the  walls.     Perhaps  it  may  be  deemed  that  this  is 
stating  the  matter  strongly,  and  too  strongly.     However,  facts  will 
prove  the  statement  correct.     Ministers  who  have  been  here  will 
,say  that  they  have  heard  as  appropriate  exhortatious,  intelligent 
remarks,  fluent  prayers,  animated  singing,   &c.,  as  in  any  other 
place.     These  meetings  were  held  on  the  Lord's  day  morning  at 
nine  o'clock,  and  were  highly  prized  by  those  who  attended  them; 
but  they  had  to  be  given  up,  though  with  much  regret,  because 
the  officers  could  not,  with  any  convenience,  be  present  to  let 
them  out  from  their  cells  to  go  to  the  chapel.     The  oflScers  are  so 
contined  through  the  week,  that  it  is  hard  to  ask  any  extra  duty 
of  them  on  the  Lord's  day.     It  would  not  be  fair  to  urge  it,  and 
I  could  not  in  conscience  do  so;  and  the  thanks  of  the  chaplain 
and  the  men  who  attended  the  prayer  meeting  are  here  expressed 
to  them  for  the  twenty-five  mornings  they  did  give  their  services. 
But  why  not  have  prayer  meetings  on  a  week  day?     I  should  be 
very  glad  to  have  them,  and  perhaps  the  day  will  come  when  such 
will  be  the  case;  though  the  contractors,  of  course,  feel  that  the 
time  of  the  men  through  the  week  is  theirs,  and  whatever  time  is 
taken  for  a  prayer  meeting  is  so  much  time  taken  from  them,  and 
might  be  considered  as  lost.     It  is  doubted,  however,  whether 
time  taken  for  such  a  purpose  would  be  altogether  lost,  even  as 
fur  as  the  contractors  are  concerned.     Might  not  the  good  the  men 
would  receive  more  than  compensate  then..     Mighf  it  not  be 
made  manifest  in  greater  diligence  and  thoroughness  in  tlieir  work, 
and  the  more  cheerful  promptitude  with  which  the  work  would 
be  performed?    Indeed,  it  would  seem  as  if  the  chaplain  should 
be  privileged  to  have  the  men  whenever  he  might  want  them  for 
a  prayer  meeting  or  any  other  religious  meeting,  and  that  nothing 
should  be  allowed  to  stand  in  his  way  to  prevent  him  from  preach- 
ing and  praying  and  laboring  just  as  much  as  he  pleases,  to  do 
them  good."    We  quite  concur  in  the  view  expressed  in  the  closing 
sentences  of  the  above  extract,  provided  the  chaplains  are  men  of 


Ill  I 


202 


PRISONS   AND   REFORMATORIES  OF   THE 


jiulgmont  and  discretion;  and  certainly  none  others  should  be  ap- 
pointed, or  if  appointed,  retained.  . 

Tlicre  appears  to  have  been,  many  years  ago,  a  convicts'  prayer 
meeting  in  the  state  penitentiary  of  Ohio,  but  it  has  long  sinco 
been  given  up.  The  present  chaplain  says:  "I  do  not  know  with 
what  results  it* was  attended."  Beyond  what  is  related  above,  mo 
know  of  no  meetings  of  the  kind  organized,  or  of  attempts  to 
organize  such,  in  any  of  the  prisons  of  America.  The  results  at 
Sing  Sing  and  Charleston  are  certainly'  such  as  to  encourage  eftbrfs 
in  that  direction,:  but  they  should  be  prudently  made,  and  only 
when  there  is  a  manifest  call  for  such  meetings  on  the  part  of  the 
convicts  themselves. 

With  much  uniformity,  though  not  with  entire  unanimity,  the 
officers  attest  the  interest  and  pleasiu'c  manifested  by  the  convicts 
in  the  religious  services  which  they  are  required  to  attend,  and  the 
beneficial  results  attending  these  services.  "Their  influence  is 
good,  very  good,"  is  the  general  testimony.  Di".  Campbell,  how- 
ever, of  the  Western  penitentiary,  Pa.,  says  of  the  convicts  in  that 
prison  :  "They  listen  more  for  the  sake  of  a  change  than  because 
they  feel  interested."  Mr.  Buckmaster,  of  the  Illinois  state  peni- 
tentiary, declared,  unequivocally,  that  he  had  never  known  any 
beneficial  results  from  the  labors  of  a  chaplain  there,  and  seemed 
to  think  such  an  officer  quite  a  useless  and  impertinent  appendage 
to  a  penal  institution. 

The  cha[)lain  at  Sing  Sing  prison, ,N.  Y.,  holds  a  short  service 
in  the  male  hospital  for  the  benefit  of  the  sick  every  Sabbath 
morning,  and  occasionally  in  the  female  hospital;  and  both  in 
Sing  Sing  and  the  other  state  prisons  of  New  York,  the  sick  and 
dying  receive  daily  visits  from  their  religious  teachers,  by  Avhom 
thev  are  i)istructed,  warned,  encouraged,  prayed  with  and  consoled, 
according  to  the  exigencies  of  their  several  cases.  Like  services 
are  rendered  to  the  same  class,  though  possibly  not  in  all  cases 
with  equal  frequency,  by  most  if  not  all  of  the  resident  chaplains 
in  the  prisons  of  the  other  states.  These  ministrations  are,  for 
the  most  part,  exceedingly  acceptable  and  often  highly  useful  to 
the  persons  who  are  made  the  subjects  of  them.  As  a  specimen 
of  the  manner  in  which  this  class  of  duties  is  performed  and 
received,  we  offer  the  following  extract  from  the  last  report  of  the 
Rev.  Mr.  Carleton:  "  In  visiting,  conversing  and  praying  with 
the  sick  in  the  hospital,  the  chaplain  has  been  much  encouraged. 
He  has  enjoyed  some  very  delightful  seasons  with  those  who  were 


UNITED   STATES  AND   CANADA. 


203 


drawing  nigh  unto  the  grave,  and  who  went  doAvn  into  the  vallej- 
of  the  shadow  of  death  fearing  no  evil,  dying  in  the  faith  of  the 
gospel,  and  going  home  to  glory.  One  man,  who  had  been  con- 
Hiied  for  a  long  season  with  pulmonary  disease,  exhibited  the  most 
meek  and  uncomplaining  spirit.  Indeed,  he  was  so  patient,  re- 
sio-ued  and  pleasant  withal,  that  no  one  could  be  with  hirn  for  any 
length  of  time  without  a  feeling  of  affection  and  sympathy  for 
him.  He  did  not  desire  to  stay  in  this  world.  He  was  not  only 
willing  to  die,  but  desirous  of  departing  to  be  with  Christ.  But 
a  few  hours  before  he  breathed  his  last,  he  said  to  me,  with  much 
animation  and  emphasis,  '  I  don't  want  to  stay  here  any  longer. 
I'd  much  rather  go.  I  want  to  see  Jesus.  Chaplain,  if  I  could 
live  many  years,  and  have  the  riches  and  the  honors  and  the 
pleasures  of  this  world,  I'd  rather  go  now  and  be  with  Jesus.' 
And  so  he  fell  asleep  without  a  struggle  or  a  groan,  trusting  in 
Jesus,  and  I  belive  has  gone  to  be  with  Jesus  in  one  of  those 
mansions  of  which  He  said  there  were  many  in  His  Father's  house. 
When  this  man  was  dying,  death  did  not  look  to  him  as  the  grim 
king  of  terrors  (which  some  people  speak  of)  to  frighten,  to 
alarm;  but  i-ather  as  a  friend,  to  lead  him  from  a  world  ot  sorrow 
and  sin  to  one  of  joy  and  holiness." 

As  regards  the  disposition  made  of  the  bodies  of  deceased  pri- 
soners, the  general  rule  in  all  state  prisons  is  to  notify  friends, 
whenever  it  is  practicable,  either  of  their  death  or  its  near 
approach;  and  the  remains  are  always  suneiulered  to  them  for 
removal,  if  they  desire  it.  Wlien  not  so  reclaimed,  they  ai'e  usually 
interred  in  a  burying  ground  within  the  prison  premises,  though 
sometimes  the  place  of  sepulture  is  in  some  cemetery  outside. 
All  this  is  as  it  should  be.  But  we  are  pained  to  report,  and  we 
cannot  but  regard  it  as  a  scandal  to  our  civilization,  that  in  ver^' 
many  of  the  prisons  visited  by  us,  certainly  not  less  than  one-half, 
and  probably  more,  no  funeral  service  whatever  is  performed  over 
the  bodies  of  deceased  convicts,  but  the  burial  of  dogs  is  awarded 
to  them.  When  a  convict  dies,  and  is  to  be  buried  in  the  prison 
of  Massachusetts,  the  whole  body  of  convicts  are  asseiubled  in  the 
chapel,  and  a  regular  funeral  service  is  held,  consisting  of  reading 
the  scriptures,  a  suitable  address  and  prayer.  Wo  believe  the 
same  is  true  in  respect  to  the  prisons  of  Maine,  New  Hampshire, 
Connecticut  and  Vermont,  but  we  think  noAvhere  else.  In  Clinton 
prison.  New  York,  there  is  a  burial  service,  attended  by  all  the 
men  belonging  to  the  gang  or  company  to  which  the  deceased  was 


204 


PRISONS  AND  REFORMATORIES   OF  THE 


attached.  The  chaphiin  reads  a  portion  of  scripture,  makes  a  short 
address,  offers  an  appropriate  prayer,  and  attends  tiie  body  to  the 
grave.  At  Sing  Sing,  the  chaplain  conducts  a  burial  service, 
which,  however,  is  attended  by  only  two  guards  and  four  convicts, 
with  occasionally  some  of  the  other  officers.  At  the  public  service 
of  the  following  Sabbath,  the  fact  of  the  death  and  the  circum- 
stances attending  it  arc  stated  in  the  chapel,  and  the  event  is 
always  made  the  occasion  either  of  brief  practical  remarks  or  of  a 
regular  funeral  sermon.  These  things  are  well  as  far  as  they  go, 
but  convicts  are  men,  though  fallen,  and  we  are  a  christian  peo- 
ple. Our  conviction,  therefore,  is,  that  Ave  should  accord  to  them, 
when  they  die,  the  burial  of  other  men,  and  that  nothing  short  of 
this  will  meet  the  demand  of  a  christian  civilization.  All  their 
prison  comrades  should  be  assembled  in  the  usual  place  of  public 
religious  worship,  and  instruction,  warning  and  exhortation  given 
them,  suited  to  the  occasion. 

In  all  our  state  prisons,  a  copy  of  the  Bible  is  supplied  to  every 
prisoner  who  is  willing  to  receive  it.  In  a  few  instances  it  is 
refused;  but  even  in  such  cases  it  not  unfrequently  happens  that 
prisoners  who  at  first  refused,  afterwards  change  their  minds  and 
jisk  for  Avhat  they  had  previously  declined.  In  most  of  the  prisons, 
hymn  books  arc  also  furnished  to  all  the  inmates,  and  in  very 
raan^-,  prayer  books  to  such  as  desire  them.  In  the  case  of  two 
or  three  prisons,  the  answers  given  to  our  interrogotary  were, 
"few  read  the  Bible  with  interest;"  "it  is  not  much  read  for 
good,"  and  the  like.  As  a  general  thing,  however,  the  responses 
were  of  quite  a  different  character.  The  common  testimony  is, 
that  a  large  proportion  of  the  prisoners — some  say  half,  others 
more  than  half — read  the  scriptures  with  interest,  attention  ami 
profit.  There  are  convicts  who  are  reported  as  reading  the  Bible 
through  once,  twice,  and  even  thrice  a  year;  and  some,  who  say 
they  never  read  it  before  their  conviction,  have  become,  since  their 
imprisonment,  diligent  students  of  it,  nnd  often  ask  questions, 
which  evince  an  intelligent  as  well  as  interested  perusal  of  its 
pages. 

We  met  with  an  exceedingly  interesting  case  in  Sing  Sing.  "We 
were  present,  when  the  chaplain,  the  venerable  John  Luckey,  per- 
formed the  rite  of  baptism  upon  six  converted  convicts.  After 
the  administration  of  the  ordinance  was  over,  he  invited  us  to  con- 
verse, individually,  with  the  prisoners  who  had  received  it ;  an 
opportunity  which  we  gladly  embraced,  and  we  v/ere  much  grati- 


UNITED  STATES  AND  CANADA. 


205 


ficd  with  the  modest,  intelligent,  and,  all  things  considered,  satis- 
factory answers  given  by  them  to  the  questions  put  in  reference  to 
their  religious  experience.  Religious  tracts  and  papers  are  distri- 
l)utcd  freely  in  most  of  om*  state  prisons;  in  some,  more  sparingly; 
and  111  a  few,  seldom  if  ever.  1 1  several  of  them,  convicts  who 
luive  the  means  are  permitted  to  tiiko  a  religious  newspaper  ;  but 
this  is  an  exception  and  not  the  rule.  In  a  majority  of  the  state 
prisons,  the  inmates  read  these  publications  Avith  no  little  interest^ 
in  some  thej'^  are  abused,  and  therefore  withheld.  Wherever  this 
happens,  the  presumption  is  that  there  is  a  lack  either  of  discipline 
or  tact  on  the  part  of  the  authorities. 

Ill  prisons  which  enjo}"^  the  services  of  resident  chaplains,  a  good 
deal  of  pastoral  labor  is  done  by  the  incumbents ;  but  this  depart- 
ment of  work  docs  not  appear  to  be  as  thoroughly  organized  or 
as  systematically  performed  in  any  of  the  state  prisons  of  the 
United  States,  as  it  is  in  the  provincial  penitentiary  of  Canada. 
The  chaplain  of  the  New  Hampshire  prison  spends  three  hours 
every  Sunday  in  going  from  cell  to  cell,  conversing  with  the  pris- 
oners, and  imparting  such  lessons  and  counsels  as  to  him  seem 
adapted  to  the  case  of  each.     Other  chaplains  spend  two  and 
others  one  hour  each  Lord's  day  in  the  same  work.     Some  are  in 
the  habit  of  spending  more  or  less  time  every  day  in  this  personal 
visitation.     Our  own  chaplains  made  to  the  commissioiu  rs  the  fol- 
lowing statements  in  regard  to  pastoral  work  done  by  them.     Mr. 
Ives,  of  Auburn  prison,  said  :  "I  visit  prisoners  in  their  cells  a 
good  deal  on  the  Sabbath,  to  converse  with  them  on  religious  sub- 
jects— on  an  average,  I  should  think,  about  fifteen.     I  also  see  and 
converse  with  a  number  every  day  in  my  office,  either  on  my 
sending  for  them  or  on  their  coming  to  me  of  their  own  accord. 
On  these  occasions  it  is  quite  usual  to  offer  prayer  with  them. 
These  labors  are  well  received  b}''  the  convicts,  who  appear  to  be 
grateful  for  the  sympathy  and  interest  thus  shown  to  them."    Mr. 
Cantield,  of  Clinton  prison,  said  :   "  On  an  avertage,  I  spend  at 
least  an  hour  and  a  half  every  Sabbath  in  visiting  prisoners  in 
their  cells,  seeing  usually  ten  or  upwards.     I  visit  the  hospital 
daily,   conversing   Avith    the   patients   and   occasionally   offering 
prayer.     The  most  .effective  pastoral  service,  I  think,  is  performed 
ia  my  casual  meetings  with  the  convicts  in  my  office,  when  they 
call  on  me  in  connection  with  their  correspondence,  and  in  other 
parts  of  the  prison  premises."     Mr.  Smith,  of  Sing  Sing  prison, 
said  :  "I  visit  the  sick  in  the  male  hospital  every  day,  and  in  the 


i 


Ill  !  • 


III 


206 


PRISONS  AND  REFORMATORIES  OF  THE 


feniulo  hospital  about  onco  a  week  ;  but  oftcner,  if  necessary.  I 
converse  with  convicts  on  writing  and  library  days,  and  I  send  for 
them  to  my  office,  from  time  to  time,  as  there  may  be  occasion. 
These  labors  are  received  with  interest  by  the  prisoners."  AViiat 
is  done  by  the  chaplains  in  New  York  is  done,  substantially,  by 
those  in  other  states.  Wo  feel  a  special  gratification  in  being  able 
to  report  a  unanimous  testimony  to  the  kindly,  serious  and  grate- 
ful spirit  in  which  the  convicts  meet  their  chaplains  in  the  dis- 
charge of  these  pastoral  offices.  As  affi)rding  a  specimen  of  this 
spirit,  we  cite  the  following  statement  of  Mr.  Cordier,  commis- 
sioner of  the  Wisconsin  state  prison:  "The  chaplain  visits  and 
converses  privjitely  with  the  prisoners  nearly  every  evening. 
These,  visits  are  eagerly  looked  for.'^ 

We  willingly  and  gladly  bear  testimony  to  the  fact  that,  as  a 
class,  the  chaplains  of  our  American  prisons  are  earnest,  godly, 
devoted,  and  faithful  men  ;  but  avo  are  sorry  to  be  compelled 
to  add,  that  they  are,  in  various  ways,  almost  cverywlune, 
restricted  and  hampered  in  their  work,  so  that  they  cannot  labor 
with  that  freedom  and  efficiency  which  would  be  desirable.  The 
restriction  to  which  we  refer  arises  chiefly  from  the  operation 
of  the  contract  sj^stem,  and  from  a  want  of  a  due  appreciation,  on 
the  part  of  prison  authorities,  of  the  supreme  importance  of  their 
labors,  as  shown  in  the  remark  before  cited,  of  Mr.  Buckmaster, 
lessee  of  the  Illinois  state  penitentiary,  although  that,  we  admit, 
is  an  extreme  opinion,  and  we  hope  and  believe,  a  unique  one. 

We  made  inquiry  whether  it  is  customary  for  the  chaplains  of 
our  state  prisons  to  hold  special  conversations  with  the  convicts  of 
their  resi)ective  institutions  on  their  admission  and  discharge.  We 
regret  our  inabilitj''  to  offer  a  satisfactory  report  on  this  point. 
Nowhere — not,  as  far  as  we  are  informed  and  believe,  in  a  solitary 
prison  in  the  United  States — is  this  duty  made  obligatory  on  the 
chaplain  ;  and  in  very  few  is  it  ever  performed  ;  or  if  ever,  not 
with  exactness  and  punctuality.  We  have  already,  in  the  section 
on  discipline,  stated  the  practice  of  the  chaplains  in  our  New  York 
prisons.  By  the  incuml)ents  in  New  Hampshire,  Massachusetts, 
and  Ohio,  the  duty  seems  to  be  generally,  if  not  invariably,  per- 
formed ;  elsewhere,  neglect  of  the  duty  appears  to  be  the  rule, 
the  doing  of  it  the  exception.  The  usage  in  Ohio  is  thus  stated 
by  Avarden  Prentice,  in  his  communication  tons:  "The  chaplain 
visits  new  prisoners  in  their  cells,  on  the  first  Sabbath  after  they 
are  received.     Ho  also  always,  as  opportunity  oflers,  converses 


UNITED   STATES   AND  CANADA 


207 


)cciision. 


with  prisoners  immediately  heforc  their  discharge.  Sudi  inter- 
views are  had  with  a  view,  first,  to  ascertain  the  elfect  of  imprison- 
ment ;  secondly,  to  learn  to  what  extent  new  purposes  have  been 
formed  ;  and,  thirdly,  to  counsel  and  encourage  eiforts  towards  a 
better  life." 

Impressed  with  the  conviction  that  v  '  able  aid  in  the  nioral 
and  religious  instruction  of  prisoners  may  bo  obtained  from  judi- 
cious volunteer  laborers,  since,  to  the  honor  of  humanity,  numbers 
are  willing  to  labor  gratuitously  .in  this  department  of  christian 
effort,  we  put  this  question  to  the  authorities  :  "Are  persons  from 
outside  ever  admitted  within  the  prison  to  make  efforts  for  the  moral 
fiud  religious  improvement  of  the  prisoners  ?"  While  grieved  to 
,siiy  thiit  from  quite  a  number  of  prisons  wc  received  a  negative 
reply,  we  are,  at  the  same  time,  happy  to  report  that  a  goodly 
number  answered  affirmatively.  Wc  cite  a  few  of  these  responses. 
Mr.  Willard,  of  Connecticut,  responds:  "Persons  from  outside, 
desirous  of  improving  the  moral  and  religious  condition  of  the 
prisoners,  are  permitted  to  hold  public  intercourse  with  them  at 
times,  but  never  private."  Mr.  Wood,  of  northern  Indiana,  says  : 
"Pei'sons  from  outside  are  allowed  to  converse  with  the  convicts 
oil  moral  and  religious  topics,  if  they  make  application  to  that 
effect  and  are  deemed  sufficiently  discreet."  Mr.  Haynes,  of  Massa- 
chusetts, replies  :  "Volunteer  laborers,  desiring  to  make  eftbrts  for 
the  moral  and  religious  benefit  of  the  prisoners,  are  admitted 
within  the  prison  to  teach  in  the  Sunday  school,  to  address  the 
prisoners  in  the  chapel,  and  to  distribute  tracts  among  them." 
Mr.  Seaton,  of  Michigan,  says  :  "  Persons  outside  may,  if  they 
wish,  come  into  the  prison  to  converse  with  the  convicts  on 
religious  subjects."  Mr.  Prentice,  of  Ohio,  answers :  "  Sunday 
school  teachers  may  visit  their  scholars,  and  tract  distributors  are 
admitted  under  such  restrictions  as  the  warden  may  impose."  Mr. 
Cordier,  of  Wisconsin,  says  :  "  Christian  people  from  outside  are 
allowed  to  converse  with  the  prisoners  on  religious  subjects,  and 
they  make  a  liberal  use  of  the  privilege.  They  are  placed  under 
no  other  restriction  than  they  would  be  in  any  church."  In  the 
eastern  penitentiary,  Pa.,  the  members  of  the  Philadelphia  Prison 
Society  labor  abundantly  and  effectively  for  the  moral  and  spiritual 
benefit  of  the  inmates.  In  the  state  prisons  of  New  York,  persons 
of  discreet  judgment  and  otherwise  properly  qualified,  find  no 
difficultj-^  in  gaining  admission  to  labor  in  the  way  and  to  the  end 
indicated. 


'>  Hi* 


'Ill 


11     |!  1 

li  m 


208 


PRISONS   AND   REFORMATORIES   OF   TUB 


Persons  who  olijert  lo  siich  iissistanco  .should  romombor  tliut 
John   IFowiird   hinmi'lf,  (ho  jifrcutost,   if  not   tho   tirst,  of  prison 
rofornuM's,  and  tho  oxooMont  Mrs.  Fry,  of  Knf^jhuid,  woro  voUnitfcr 
Avorkors.    So  wcro  I^onis  Dwight  and  Mi.ss  Di.x  of  Anioric^a.    And 
8o,  also,  have  boon  niultitndos  of  other  (>tHoient  hiborers  in  both 
counM'ies,  who  hav(s  worthily  foUowed  in  tho  footsteps  of  these 
ilbistrious  indivichuds.    There  is  a  consi(U'ration  in  favor  of  admit- 
ting^ this  species  of  scrviee  in  prisons,  sn<;<>;ested  by  Mr.  Fred('ri(  Ic 
Ilill,  in  his  work  on  Crime,  which  strikes  us  as  of  no  little  force. 
It  is  this:     The  feelinj]^  is  (juito  eonnnon  with  prisoners,  that  per- 
sons who,  of  their  own  ac^eord,  come  to  visit  them  and  to  labor 
for  their  improvement,  nnist  have  their  interest  at  heart,  and  can- 
not 1)0  discharging  a  mere   (hity  for  which  they  are  pai<l.     This 
feeling,  on  (heir  part,  adds  much  (o  the  power  of  such  instruction; 
a  [)ower  which,   if  discreetly  used,  may  bo  turned  to  tho  best 
account.     Mr.  Miller,  of  Missouri,  informed  us  that  persons  from 
outside  had  never,  at  Jellbrson  City,  oH'ored  their  services  to  con- 
verso  with  convicts  in  tho  state  penitentiary  on  moral  and  religions 
subjects.     Happily,  such  indifl'crenee  on  tho  part  of  religious  and 
philanthropic  people,  does  not  extensively  prevail,  and  is,  wo 
would  fain  hope,  limited  to  the  capital  of  Missouri.    In  most  com- 
munities, to  the  honor  of  humanity,  tho  number  of  persons  willing 
to  render  gratuitous  service  of  the  kind  indicated  is  such  as  to 
admit  of  considerable  choice  in  the  selection  of  those  who  seem 
adapted  to  tho  work.     Even  selHsh,    or  at  least  self-interested, 
motives  may  and  do,  sometimes,  come  into  play  here.    The  divine 
provision,  bj'  which  he  who  dispenses  good  thereby  bcnetits  him- 
self, is  not  AvKhout  its  power  as  an  inducement  to  this  good  woik. 
Mr.  Ilill  speaks  of  a  lady  of  high  rank  in  Scotland,  who  applied 
for  permission  for  herself  and  others  to  visit  tho  female  inmates 
of  a  small  prison  in  that  country.     In  making  tho  application,  she 
distinctly  stated  that  she  wished  to  come,  not  as  a  condescending 
patroness,  but,  as  she  herself  expressed  it,  "  as  a  wonnm  to  women;" 
with  a  conviction  that  she  and  those  associated  with  her  would 
derive  more  pioftt  than  even  the  prison(>rs  themselves.     The  phy- 
sician of  tho  eastern  penitentiary  of  Pennsylvania,  in  his  annual 
report  some  years  ago,  after  dilating  on  the  importance  and  utility 
of  these  volunteer  labors  in  prisons,  thus  states  his  opinion  as  to 
the  classes  of  persons  proper  to  be  admitted:     "Heretofore,  the 
persons  permitted  to  visit  the  prisoners  for  tho  purpose  of  moral 
instruction,  &o.,  have  been  invariably  conlined  to  the  more  edu- 


UNITED    STATES    AND   CANADA. 


209 


nit(Ml  classc'S.  T  hclicvfi  (his  to  ho  an  error.  Among  thoso  of  our 
cili/.on.s  Avho  hiivc  K'hm  pretcuMions  to  intcllootiial  culture,  many 
will  1)0  found  who  poHsoss  every  (|uaiifieation  uecexsury  to  render 
(heir  inloroour.s(!  with  eonvietn  hiffhiy  l»«Mie(ieial.  I  would,  there- 
lore,  earnestly  recommend  (hat  (ln'ir  services  he  innne<liat(dy 
solicited."  The  ties  which  conviitfs  in  this  way  form  wi(h  suuw 
(if  (he  purest  and  l>est  of  their  species,  of  Ixttli  sexes,  feel)le  as 
(liey  may  ap[)ear,  are  often  of  inestimahle  value  to  them  after 
(heir  lilieration.  This  is  shown  hy  the  largo  numl)er  of  oll'enders, 
who  have  hecome  respee(al)lc  an<l  useful  niemhers  of  society 
(hrough  the  instrmnentali(y  of  such  volunteer  W(jrkers  in  our 
own  and  other  comitries. 

As  it  respec(s  (he  nature,  exl(Mit,  value  and  permanence  of  the 
rc'sidts  accomplished  l»y  the  various  religious  intluences,  as  <le(ailcd 
altove,  which  are  brought  to  hear  U[»on  (Iks  convicts  in  tin;  prisons 
of  our  country,  prison  otficers,  and  even  the  cliaplains  themsidves, 
diller  not  a  little  in  opin  on.  In  general,  the  response  to  our 
inquiries  on  this  point,  from  prisons  not  provided  with  resident 
chaplains,  was  to  the  etleet  that  no  very  clear,  marked  or  decisive 
results  were  visll)le.  On  the  other  hand,  the  prisons  enjoying 
the  services  of  full  chaplains,  gave  answer,  for  the  most  part,  that 
the  results  were  "fav  arable,"  or  "  highly  favorable."  Most  of  the 
chaplains  think  that  geimine  conversions,  involving  a  radical  change 
in  the  religious  state  and  character  of  the  subjects,  do  occasionally 
take  place,  though  for  the  most  part  they  represent  such  changes 
as  comparatively  rare,  and  to  be  admitted  with  a  cautious  reserve. 
Mr.  ('ordier,  of  Wisconsin  state  prison,  however,  reports  his  chap- 
lain as  of  the  oi)inion  "that  gemiinc  spiritual  conversions  take 
place  in  at  least  one-third  of  the  convicts."  The  response  in  regard 
to  the  Ohio  prison  is  in  these  words:  "It  is  difficult  to  determine, 
ill  a  general  way,  what  are  the  results  brought  to  bear  u[)0u  the 
convicts.  The  field  is  not  a  fruitful  one,  and  yet  there  are  in  it 
encouragements  to  cultivation.  It  is  safe  to  say  that  usually  the 
intluences  are  morally  healthful."  Vermont  answers  thus:  "The 
chaplain  trus(s  that  genuine  spiritual  conversions  do  sometimes 
take  place.  He  does  not  look,  certainly,  for  many  strong  evidences 
of  awakening;  but  he  doe.'i  locdc  for  such  an  impression  as  will 
make  a  man  a  better  citizen,  disarm  his  prejudice  against  the 
administration  of  the  hiAV,  and  lead  him  to  look  with  sympathy  and 
reverence  on  religion,  and  to  desire  to  practice  its  precepts  and 
grow  into  its  spirit."     Mr.  Carleton,  of  the  Massachusetts  prison, 

[Asseni.  No.  35.J  14 


•  Si-' 


m 


210 


PRISONS   AND   REFORMATORIES   OF   THE 


Ui 


ill  hist  liiMt  niiniuil  report,  Htiys:  "It  is  will)  i'uulings  of  devout  and 
gnUet'iil  uppreciutioii,  ns  he  linnihly  triislH,  thiit  tlio  cliupiain  i,s 
al)Ie  to  say,  that  thirin<^  the  year  there  has  hceii  more  attentlvii  to 
religious  coneorns  than  usual,  and  many  of  the  ])ri.s()ner.s  have,  to 
u  greater  or  le.ss  extent,  been  interested  in  the  qn(\stion  of  their 
personal  salvation.  Some,  there  is  reason  to  hope,  huvo  boon 
truly  converted,  and  l)y  the  grace  of  God  have  hecoinc  new  creu. 
tures  in  Christ  Jesus,  old  things  having  with  them  passed  away, 
and  all  things  having  become  new.  Some  give  the  most  satisfac- 
tory and  decisive  evidence  that  this  gracious  change  has  passed 
upon  them,  by  a  quiet,  resigned,  yet  genial  and  cheerful  spirit — 
willing  to  suffer  as  malefactors,  because  they  arc  sensible  that  they 
have  done  wrong,  and  not  uiging  any  plea  for  pardon,  on  the 
ground  that  they  have  become  reformed  men.  They  acknowledge 
that  they  have  broken  the  laws  of  the  land,  and"  have  been  justly 
convicted  and  sentenced,  and  they  arc  willing  to  servo  out  the 
time  of  their  punishment,  ))ecause  they  l)elieve  it  is  just  and  pro- 
per that  they  should.  Such,  the  chaplain  must  say,  he  has  confi- 
dence in,  and  prays  that  they  may  go  on  their  way  rejoicing,  which 
he  believes  will  be  the  fact,  and  that  thev  will  not  only  do  good 
here  by  their  example  and  faith,  but  when  they  have  gone  out 
from  this  place,  do  good  in  their  day  and  generation,  wherever 
their  lot  may  be  cast." 

There  is  a  general  concurrence,  on  the  part  of  the  prison  chap- 
lains of  the  United  States,  in  the  opinion  that  the  religious  ele- 
ment might  to  advantage  be  nuudi  more  extensively  introduced 
into  our  prison  administration,  especially  by  the  formation 
of  Sabbath  schools  where  they  do  not  now  exist,  the 
establishment  of  a  short  daily  service  in  the  chapel,  and  a  more 
pervading  and  elevated  moral  and  religious  tone  among  the  offi- 
cers. On  this  latter  point,  Mr.  Canfield,  of  Clinton  prison,  well 
remarks:  "  The  teaching  of  morality  ahd  religion,  to  i)r()dueo 
their  best  and  highest  cflect,  need  to  be  illustrated  and  enforced 
by  the  character  and  example  of  all  who  are  allowed  to  associjito 
with  the  convict  ofliciully  or  odicrwisc.  The  'powers  that  be' 
iiKiy,  it' i)()»i')l(',  cniitloy  an  anuors  tongue  lo  enforce;  every  ccin- 
niand  in  the  ticcniogue  smd  all  ilie  teachings  of  the  gos])el,and  vol 
if  the  same  powers  require  the  convict  to  systenjalically 
trample  upon  these  commands,  the  practice  wiil  do  much  more  to 
form  his  character  than  the  preaching.  '  Thou,  which  teachest 
another,  teachest  not  thyself?'  "     To  the  like  effect  are  the  fol- 


UNITED   STATES  AND  CANADA. 


211 


lowing  rpinark«  of  Mr.  Hill:     '*  Much  jw  Iho  hearts  and  niinds  of 
prisoiuM's  may  lu'  improved  by  prei^ept,  still  this  is   not  the  sole, 
or  even  tho  ehief  means  of  attaining  the    desired   end.      Much 
jnor*'  will  dej)cn<l  on  the  practice  of  the    prison;   whereof  every 
ride  and  the  example  of  every  officer  will  have  an  elFeet,  for  good 
or  for  evil,  on  the  character  of  the  innuUes,  as  it  harmonizes  or 
clashes  with  tln^  great  laws  of  reason  and  justice."     On  the  gene- 
ral suhjeet  of  an  increase  of  religions  agencies  in  prisons,  a  pastor 
who  officiates  with  others  in  conducting  the  Sahliath  services  of  a 
largo  state  penitentiary,  says:      "In  regard  to  the  efficacy  of  re- 
ligious  instruction   in   prisons,  I  am  nnal)lc  to  say  much  from 
actual  observation  and  experience.     Our  opportunities  for  impart- 
ing religious  instruction  are  so  limited  under  the  present  manage- 
ment as  to  make  it  Impossible  to  say  how  much  nught  be   accom- 
plished in  this  Avay.      Still,   I  have  seen   enough  to   know   that 
nuich,  very  much,  may  be  done  by  a  discreet   and   faithful   chap- 
lain.    Not  only  have  instances  of  apparent  conversion  taken  place 
under  my  ol)servation,  but  in  some  cases  I  have  kept  my  eye   on 
them  for  year*  after  they  left  the  prison,    and   they   have   given 
every   evidence  of  being  thoroughly  and  permanently  reformed. 
A  few  days  since,  I  received  a  letter  from   one  who  left  the  pri- 
son more  than  a  year  ago.     Ho  has  written  to  me  as  frequently  as 
once  a  month  ever  since  his   discharge,  and  I  do  not  know  that  I 
have  a  correspondent,    ministerial   or   otherwise,   whose   letters 
breath  more  of  the  spirit  of  Christ  than  his.     My  firm  conviction 
is  tiiat,  if  more  time  was  spent  with  the  convicts  in  an   effort  to 
improve  their  morals,  fewer  of  them  would  so  soon  find  their  way 
back  to  ]i)rison  after  their  discharge,  and  many  would  be  soundly 
•'onvcrted  to  God.     The  great  difficulty  would  bo  in  getting  the 
right  sort  of  a  chaplain,  for,  wliilo  I  do  not  want  to  undernite  my 
brethren,  I  do  not  think  one  minister  in  five,  no,  not  in  twenty,  is 
fit  to  go  inside  of  a  prison.      One-half  of  them  Avill  allow   their 
sympathies  to  pervert  their  judgment,  and  almost  the  whole  of  the 
other  half  would  be  rendered  so  skeptical  by  the  continual  deceitof 
Mie  convicts  as  to  bi^  unwilling  to  do  justice  to  the  siiicci'e.     lUit  I 
ill!  s:iti.s(ir'd  that  (htih/  pnti/ers,  n  hlltlc  class,  and  r('i)e:il(Ml  public 
st}'vlces  under  the  .su[)erintontk'nci'  of  a  coni[)et('nt  chaplain,   who 
is  nntrameled  liy  outside  infiuenccs,  would  do  more  to  reform  the 
convicts  than  all  the  terrors  of  the  law  with  which  it   is  possible 
to  threaten  or  punish  them." 
In  the  year  1839,  the  Boston  Prison  Discipline  Society  addressed 


'  1 


HI! 


"i  »^ 


212 


PRISONS  AND  REFORMATORIES  OF  THE 


to  tho  wadeus  of  the  different  state  prisons  a  series  of  interrogato- 
ries, including,  among  others,  tho  following:  "  What  do  you  think 
of  a  prison  without  a  chapel,  or  place  of  worship,  where  the  con- 
victs can  be  assembled  on  the  Sabbath  for  public  worship  and 
Sabbath-school  instruction,  and  [on  week  da^'s  for]  morning  and 
evening  pra^'ers?"  To  this  Mr.  Moses  C.  Pilsbury,  one  of  tiic 
most  eminent  prison  keepers  of  that  day,  gave  tho  following 
pointed  and  excellent  reply:  "It  is  impossible  for  me,  in  the  limits 
of  this,  to  give  my  views  in  detail  on  so  important  a  question;  but. 
in  my  estimation,  not  much  unlike  (in  regard  to  wisdom)  to  a  man 
who  would  build  and  adorn  a  beautiful  ship,  lade  her  with  the 
richest  cargo  of  goods,  and  send  her  to  sea  without  rudder,  com- 
pass or  chart.  I  think  there  would  not  be  much  preventive,  in  u 
prison  without  a  chapel,  against  insanity,  but  it  Avould  be  Avritten 
upon  tho  very  walls."  This  puts  the  supreme  importance  of  reli- 
gion in  prisons  in  a  light  as  clear  as  it  is  striking,  and  it  is  for  this; 
reason  that  we  have  cited  it. 

It  appears,  from  the  foregoing  detail,  that  a  good  deal  of  promi- 
nence is  given  by  some  at  least  of  our  American  prison  chaplains 
to  the  work  of  personal  visitation  and  conference.  We  cannot 
too  warmly  commend  this  practice,  nor  too  strongly  press  it  upon 
these  excellent  gentlemen.  We  approve  and  urge  the  universal 
introduction  into  prisons  of  a  daily  service  of  prayer,  like  that 
which  we  have  described  as  in  use  in  the  Massachusetts  prisoij; 
but  we  would  give  the  preeminence  to  personal  interviews,  as 
likely  to  have  the  greater  permanent  influence.  The  benefit  tc 
convicts  is  obvious  and  incalculable  of  frequent  conversations  with 
an  earnest,  kind,  godly,  sympathizing  and  judicious  chaplain, 
when  the  prisoner  can  express  his  feelings,  and  tho  pastor  can  givt 
his  counsels  and  admonitions,  with  no  one  bv  to  check  the  free 
outpourings  of  the  heart  on  either  side.  One  special  reason  for 
such  visits  and  conversations  is,  that  the  chaplain  is  thereby 
enabled  the  better  to  direct  his  inquiries  and  instructions  to  each 
prisoner's  particular  case;  and  one  highly  important  use  to  be 
made  of  them  is,  as  Mr.  Hill  has  suggested,  to  inquire  into  tho 
convict's  prospects  on  liberation,  and  so  by  correspondence  with 
his  friends  or  former  employes,  to  obtain  for  him,  when  there  i.< 
evidence  of  contrition  and  amendment,  another  trial.  The  friendly 
offices  of  the  chaplain  may  often,  in  this  wa}',  be  of  essential  ser- 
vice in  effecting  the  prisoner's  restoration  to  society. 

To  the  question,  "  How  far  does  the  conduct  of  prisoners,  after 


UNITED  STATES  AND  CANADA. 


213 


discharge,  justify  the  hopes  inspired  by  their  contluct  while  in 
prison  ?"  we  did  not,  for  the  most  part,  receive  very  satisfactory 
replies.  Quite  commonly  the  answer  was,  "We  cannot  trace  them 
to  any  great  extent  after  liberation,  and  consequently  know  little 
of  their  subsequent  career."  In  other  cases  the  statement  was, 
that  the  after  life  of  convicts  seldom  justifies  the  hopes  excited  by 
their  professions  in  prison.  In  one  instance,  the  significant  res- 
ponse was  given,  "jTeu  lepers  were  cleansed,  but  one  only  returned 
to  give  glory  to  God."  A  few  answers  of  a  more  cheering  charac- 
ter were  received.  Mr.  Miller,  of  Missouri,  says :  "  On  the  whole, 
an  encouraging  number  seem  to  justify  our  hopes  of  them  by 
their  conduct  after  their  release,  and  give  promise  of  permanent 
reformation.  Mr. Haynes,  of  Massachusetts  testifies:  "The  major- 
ity of  prisoners,  by  their  conduct  after  their  discharge,  justify  our 
hopes  of  their  conduct."  Mr.  Cordier,  of  Wisconsin,  returns  an 
answer  the  most  gratifying  of  all.  His  testimony  is:  "I  must 
confess  that  my  most  sanguine  hopes,  inspired  by  the  conduct  of 
convicts  while  in  prison,  have  been  full}'-  justified  by  their  conduct 
after  discharge.  During  the  four  years  I  have  been  connected 
with  this  prison,  there  have  been  284  convicts  discharged.  While 
onlv  nine  of  them  have  been  returned  for  a  second  time,  I  have 
met  with  a  goodly  number  of  these  men,  having  traveled  exten- 
sively through  the  state,  who  are  now  respectable  citizens.  One 
is  editor  of  an  ably  conducted  monthly  mngazine ;  another  is  a 
public  officer,  in  the  employ  of  the  government ;  and  others  are 
mechanics,  farmers  and  laborers.  All  whom  I  have  had  the  plea- 
sure to  meet  (and  they  were  not  a  few)  were  in  comfortable  cir- 
cumstances, of  sober  habits  and  of  exemplary  character."  Can  the 
fact  that  the  contract  system  has  never  had  an  existence  in  the 
Wisconsin  state  prison  have  anything  to  do  with  the  extraordinary 
results  here  exhibited? 

A  moral  agency  in  prisons,  of  no  little  power  for  good  or  evil, 
exists  in  the  correspondence  of  the  convicts  with  their  friends  and 
others  of  the  outside  woild.  In  all  the  state  prisons  of  New  York, 
this  department  of  the  administration  is  in  the  sole  charge  of  the 
chaplains.  In  New  Hampshire,  this  oflScer  has  the  "  principal 
charge  "  of  the  correspondence.  In  Massachusetts  and  Wiscon- 
si  I,  the  correspondence  of  the  prisoners  is  committed  to  the  clerk. 
In  all  the  other  state  prisons  to  which  our  information  extends, 
this  duty  is  discharged  by  the  warden.  There  arc,  we  think, 
important  reasons,  which  will  be  referred  to  by  and  by,  why  the 


i  I 


214 


PRISONS  AND  REFORMATORIES  OF  THE 


!   !  I: 


i!i'^ 


oversight  of  the  prisoners'  correspoudenco  should  be  intnisted  to 
their  religious  teachers. 

There  is  nowhere  any  restriction  as  to  the  number  of  letters  that 
convicts  may  receive,  provided  they  be  of  a  proper  character.  As 
regards  the  frequency  Avith  which  letters  may  be  written  by  them, 
the  usage  varies  in  different  prisons  not  a  little.  In  New  York, 
Kentucky,  Massachusetts,  Michigan,  Vermont  and  Pennsylvania, 
convicts  are  permitted  to  write  one  letter  in  three  months.  lu 
Connecticut,  thejr  may  write  every  six  weeks.  In  New  Hampshire, 
Ohio  and  Wisconsin,  they  enjoy  this  privilege  monthly.  In 
northern  Indiana,  there  is  no  restriction  as  to  time  on  prisoners, 
whose  conduct  record  is  fair.  In  Maine,  they  are  permitted  to 
Avrite  to  their  friends  "  as  often  as  they  wish  ;"  and  in  Missouri  "  as 
often  as  is  convenient."  The  general  rule  in  Wisconsin  is,  as 
above  stated,  one  letter  a  month  ;  but  the  privilege  of  correspond- 
ence is  there,  very  wisely,  made  an  instrument  of  discipline  ;  and 
convicts,  as  a  reward  for  good  conduct,  are  allowed  to  write  twice 
or  even  four  times  a  mouth.  The  careful  reader  will  not  fail  to 
have  noticed,  as  he  has  followed  the  thread  of  this  report,  that  the 
methods  of  convict  treatment  pursued  in  the  Wisconsin  state  pri- 
son, are,  in  general,  more  natural,  more  in  harmony  with  that 
which  men  receive  in  free  society,  than  perhaps  those  employed 
in  any  other  American  prison ;  and  to  this  circumstance,  taKen  in 
connection  with  the  exclusion  of  the  contract  system  from  the 
start,  we  cannot  but  attribute,  in  great  measure,  a  percentage  of 
reconvictions  below,  and  a  percentage  of  permanent  reformations 
above,  the  general  average  of  the  penal  institutions  of  this  country. 
There  are  other  circumstances,  however,  which  may  have  contribu- 
ted to  the  same  result.  There  are  no  very  large  cities  in  Wiscon- 
sin. The  habits  of  the  people  are  simple.  The  demand  for  agri- 
cultural laborers  is  very  great ;  and  it  is  to  this  class  that  Mr. 
Cordier's  observation  was,  as  he  himself  informed  us,  mainly  con- 
fined. We  think  it  right  to  mention  these  circumstances,  as  we 
desire  to  be  just  and  fair  to  all. 

It  is  proper  to  state,  in  this  connection,  that  in  all  our  prisons 
letters  may  be  written  moie  frequently  than  at  the  stated  times 
named  in  the  preceding  paragraph,  by  permission  obtained  from 
the  proper  authority,  whenever  the  occasion  seems  to  demand  a 
letter,  and  the  conduct  of  the  applicant  has  been  such  as  to  merit 
the  indulgence. 

It  can  hardly  be  necessary  to  mention,  as  it  could  not  fail  to  be 


UNITED    STATES   AND   CANADA. 


215 


presumed,  that  the  correspondence  both  ways  is  subject  to  inspec- 
tion; all  letters,  written  and  received  by  convicts,  being  carefully 
read,  and  those  which  are  deemed  objectionable  inexorably  with- 
held; nevertheless,  when  letters  contain  matter,  a  part  of  which  is 
contraband  and  a  part  not,  while  the  letters  themselves  are  with- 
held, the  portions  not  contraband  are  read  to  the  persons  to  whom 
they  have  been  sent. 

The  character  of  the  correspondence  carried  on  between  coi,- 
victs  and  their  friends,  is  a  matter  of  no  slight  interest  and  import- 
ance. We  may  remark,  in  general,  that  far  too  large  a  propor- 
tion of  the  letters  written  by  prisoners  relate  to  the  subject  of 
obtaining  a  pardon,  in  many  prisons  not  less  than  one-half  of 
them  being  of  this  character,  and  in  some  fully  two-thirds.  Of 
course,  this  necessitates,  or  at  least  involves,  to  a  great  degree,  a 
like  quality  or  strain  in  the  answers  returned.  Such  a  state  of  the 
case  is  bad  in  itself  and  bad  in  its  influence,  since,  until  prison- 
ers abandon  the  expectation  of  pardon,  and  make  up  their  mind 
to  quietly  serve  out  their  terms  of  sentence,  they  Avill  give  little 
earnest  thought  or  effort  to  the  work  of  personal  reformation, 
which,  for  tL^^ reives,  as  well  as  for  society,  is  the  most  import- 
ant end  to  be  ^i:  I  through  their  imprisonment.  So  far,  then, 
their  corresponac-nce  is  iittle  to  their  profit,  find  not  a  little  to 
their  disprotit.  But,  barring  this  feature,  there  is  nuich  in  prison 
correspondence  to  commend,  and  much  that  is  calculated  to  do 
good.  From  most  prisons  we  received  statements  to  the  effect 
that,  with  the  exception  named,  the  letters  written  by  convicts  to 
family  friends,  parents,  wives  and  children,  are  kind,  affectionate, 
sympathetic,  showing  warm  domestic  feeling,  abounding  in  expres- 
sions of  tender  regard  and  attachment,  and  giving  utterance  to  a 
strong  purpose  to  do  better  in  the  future.  The  letters  written  to 
them  by  their  friends,  are  marked  by  the  same  general  character- 
istics, with  the  additi(m  of  much  friendly  admonition,  counsel  and 
encouragement.  So  that,  while  a  few  wardens  express  the  opin- 
ion that  the  correspondence  of  their  prisoners  either  simply  does 
no  harm  or  is  positively  hurtful,  the  great  majority  of  these 
officers  concur  in  the  judgment  that  it  is  highly  beneficial,  as 
teiuling  to  bind  them  to  their  homes,  to  assure  them  that  there 
are  still  those  who  care  for  and  sympathize  with  them,  to  keep 
alive  in  their  breast  the  sentiment  of  domestic  aflection,  and  to 
impart  hope,  confidence  and  courage,  when  otherwise  they  would 
be  likely  to  give  way  to  despondent  and  even  despairing  emotions. 


216 


PRISONS  AND   REFORMATORIES  OF  THE 


All  this  is  well  illustrated  by  the  reninrk  of  a  convict,  recently 
mfttie  to  the  chiiplain  of  Sing  Sing  prison.  Mr.  Smith  handed 
him  a  letter  just  received.  On  glancing  at  the  address,  the  man 
observed:  "  Chaplain,  that  letter  is  from  my  mother;  and  if  I 
were  oifered  the  choice  between  it  and  a  hundred  dollar  green- 
back, I  would  take  the  letter." 

The  proportion  of  convicts  in  American  prisons,  who  either 
write  letters  or  have  them  written,  is  very  large.  Our  New  York 
chaplains  soy  thai;  the  exceptions  to  this  rule  are  rare  indeed. 

Whetbvjr  the  chaplains,  or  Mhatever  otficers  have  charge  of  the 
corresj^^ondence.  avail  themselves  of  letters  written  or  received  by 
convicts,  to  produce  good  impresisions  on  their  minds,  or  to  deepen 
and  render  permanent  those  already  made,  is  one  of  the  points 
connected  with  this  subject,  on  which  we  sought  to  obtain  informa- 
tion.    The  importance  of  the  subject -matter  to  which  the  question 
relates  will  be  apparent,  when  it  is  considered  that  in  a  prison  of 
the  size  of  Sing  Sing,  not  less  certainly  than  8,000  letters  will  be 
the  annual  aggregate  coming  in  and  going  out.     All  of  these  must 
pass  through  the  hands  of  the  officer  who  has  charge  of  the  cor- 
respondence, and  in  every  instance  he  must  come  in  contact  with 
the  convict  from  whom  he  receives  or  to  whom  he  gives  his  letter. 
Here,  then,  he  will  have  not  fewer  than  8,000  opportunities  of 
uttering  a  brief  word  of  counsel,  encouragement  or  exhortation, 
and  that  too  under  circumstances  in  which,  as  will  occur  to  over, 
reflecting  mind,  such  a  word,  titly  spoken,  will  often  have  an  eifect 
tenfold  greater  than  at  ordinary  times.     It  is  on  this  account, 
chietly,  that  we  said,  a  little  Avhile  ago,  that  the  chaplain  appeared 
to  us  the  most  suitable  officer  to  be  entrusted  with  the  prison  cor- 
respondence.    We   ground  ihis  opinion  on  two  considerations: 
lirst,  because  he  is  the  person  most  competent  to  the  service  sug- 
gested; and,  secondly,  because  he  will  be  likely  to  have  the  most 
leisure  for  it.     As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  service  is  now  performed 
only  to  a  very  limited  extent,  except  in  the  prisons  in  which  the 
chaplains  have  charge  of  the  correspondence.     Mr.  Peirce,  the  ex- 
cellent clerk  of  the  Massachusetts  prison,  makes  use  of  his  oppor- 
timity  in  the  way  indicated;  but  we  were  surprised  to  receive  from 
Mr.  Cordier,  who  has  utilized   so  many  agencies  neglected  by 
others  for  the  moral  benefit  of  his  prisoners,  the  statement  that 
"their  correspondence  has  never  yet  been  used  as  a  means  either 
of  awaking  or  deepening  good  impressions."     Most  of  the  wardens 
who  supervise  the  prison  correspoudeuce,  rarely,  if  ever,  employ 


UNITED   STATES   AND   CANADA. 


217 


this  agcncv  in  the  manner  stated;  although  Mr.  Miller,  late  warden 
of  the  penitentiary  of  Missouri,  was  in  the  habit  of  doing  so,  and 
Avas  even  accustomed  frequently  to  append  to  letters  sent  to 
convicts  a  postcript  of  his  own,  calling  their  special  attention  to 
sonio  particular  item  of  advice  or  warm'ng  contained  in  them.  But 
the  four  chaplains  named  as  entrusted  with  the  oversight  of  the 
correspondence,  viz.:  the  three  in  New  York  and  the  one  in  Ncav 
Iliunpshire,  seem  fully  to  comprehend  the  value  of  the  opportuni- 
ties for  good  thereby  afforded,  and  faithfully  to  improve  the  same; 
and  they  report,  we  can  readily  believe  truly,  great  and  lasting 
benefits  accomplished  in  this  way. 

Another  moral  agency  in  prisons,  which  may  he  either  good 
or  bad,  according  to  circumstances,  are  the  visits  which  'convicts 
arc  allowed  to  receive,  with  greater  or  less  frequency,  from  their 
friends.  In  perhaps  the  larger  number  of  state  prisons,  prisoners 
arc  permitted  to  see  their  friends  only  once  everj^  three  months; 
l)ut  ill  Connecticut,  Michigan,  Ohio  and  Wisconsin,  they  may  re- 
ceive visits  monthly;  and  in  Maine,  Missouri,  New  Hampshire  and 
Vermont,  at  any  time  when  their  friends  may  come.  In  North- 
ern Indiana,  also,  visits  may  be  received  by  convicts  without 
restriction,  if  their  conduct  be  good.  In  the  western  penitentiary. 
Pa.,  convicts  are  never  allowed  to  see  their  friends,  except  in 
particular  cases,  as  severe  sickness,  &c.;  a  stern  and  harsh  rule, 
which,  for  that  reason,  we  record  in  the  very  words  in  which  it 
Avas  stated  to  us  by  the  warden.  The  practice  is  quite  different 
in  the  eastern  penitentiary.  Prisoners  there  are  permitted  to 
receive  visits  from  their  friends  once  in  three  months.  Here,  as 
also  in  all  prisons  on  the  congregate  plan,  these  interviews  must 
be  held  in  the  presence  of  an  officer.  In  this  prison,  the  grated 
door  of  the  cell  is  closed  between  the  convict  and  his  visitor.  The 
only  exception  to  the  rule  of  exclusion  from  the  cell  is  when 
mothers  visit  their  imprisoned  offspring.  They  are  admitted  to  a 
more  private  interview  within  the  narrow  walls  to  which  their 
children  are  confined — a  touching  tribute  to  the  sanctity  and 
tenderness  of  the  maternal  relation. 

With  very  few  exceptions,  persons  making  friendly  visits  of  the 
kind  described  above  may  bring  little  presents  of  fiuits  and  other 
catablei>  to  the  prisoners  whom  they  call  to  see.  Mr.  Miller,  of 
Missouri,  says:  "I  have  encouraged  such  attentions  from  their 
friends,  and  have  seen  tears  flow  freely  at  the  reception  of  such 
home  inid  heart  offerings." 


218 


PRISONS  AND  REFORMATORIES  OF  THE 


:! 


ijj  {M 


As  to  the  effect  of  these  visits  of  friends  on  the  convicts,  one 
warden  reports  it  as  doubtful;  another,  as  of  no  benefit;  a  third, 
as  doing  no  harm;  and  a  fourth  as  bad,  making  the  prisoners  sad, 
discontented,  restless  and  moroio  for  a  number  of  days.  As  a 
general  thing,  however,  prison  officers  concur  in  the  testimony 
that  the  influence  of  tiieso  friendly  visits  is  good  and  wholesome. 

Another  moral  agency  in  prisons,  of  no  little  potency,  is  con- 
stituted by  the  visits,  more  or  less  numerous,  of  the  general  pub- 
lic, most  of  which  are  prompted  by  an  impulse  of  curiosity. 

In  nearly  or  quite  all  the  prisons  of  the  United  States,  general 
visitors  are  admitted,  daily,  during  business  hours,  and  are  con- 
ducted, with  very  few  exceptions,  over  the  entire  iiremisos, 
including  the  workshops.  No  restrictions  are  imposed,  other 
than  that  they  be  under  the  escort  of  an  officer,  and  abstain  from 
speaking  to  the  convicts  or  delivering  any  article  whatever  into 
their  hands;  and  they  are,  besides,  quite  commonly  admonished 
not  to  indulge  in  laughter,  loud  conversation,  or  boisterous  con- 
duct of  any  kind.  With  almost  entire  unanimity,  though  a  few 
exceptions  must  be  noted,  prison  officers  declare  the  influence  of 
this  sj'stem  of  general  visitation  to  be  evil.  Let  Mr.  Cordicr 
speak  for  them  all.  This  intelligent,  humane,  and  able  governor 
says:  "  The  influence  upon  convicts  of  admitting  general  visitors 
cannot  be  otherwise  than  injurious.  This  being  gazed  upon  again 
and  again,  as  criminals,  tends  to  destroy  all  sense  of  shimie,  if 
there  be  any  left.  It  further  tends  to  harden  their  feelings,  and 
make  them  indift'erent  to  pu))lic  opinion.  These  visits  have,  also, 
a  very  bad  effect  upon  the  discipline.  It  cannot  be  prevented 
that  visitors  speak  loud  enough  to  l)c  heard  by  prisoners,  and 
this  draws  their  attention  from  their  woik,  subjecting  them  to 
admonition,  and  sometimes  even  to  punishment.  I  consider  the 
custom  of  making  convicts  a  kind  of  public  show,  a  nuisance  and 
a  disgrace,  and  one  that  should  be  abolished  very  speedily."  To 
all  which  we  respond  with  an  emphatic  and  hmwiy  f*mon,  especi- 
ally as,  in  the  great  majority  of  American  prisons,  an  entrance  fee 
of  twenty-five  cents  is  charged,  which  gives  the  custom  stilt  more 
the  air  of  a  public  exhibition,  and  makes  the  state  a  showman  for 
a  few  paltry  coppers. 

All  this  is  derogatory  to  the  dignity  of  government,  and  we 
have  never  seen  the  price  of  admission  taken  by  prison  authori- 
ties without  a  feeling,  almost,  of  personal  degradation,  as  being, 
in  some  sort,  identified  with  the  system.     It  pains  us  to  add  that 


UNITED  STATES  AND  CANADA. 


219 


more  than  a  moiety  of  these  visitors — one  warden  says  five-sixths, 
and  quite  generally   the   response   is   two-thirds  —  are   women. 
Under  the  system  of  general  admission,  without  any  responsible 
authorization,  it  often  happens — and,  in  the  nature  of  things,  can- 
not be  otherwise — that  improper  characters  are  introduced,  which, 
as  a  matter  of  course,  intensifies  the  evil  influence  of  the  practice. 
In  one  instance  it  was  reported  to  us,  that  a  woman,  on  successive 
visits  to  the  prison,  at  each  of  wiiich  she  had  paid  her  quarter  for 
the  privilege  of  going  in  and  through,  adroitlj'  dropped,  in  the 
right  place  and  without  discovery,  piece  by  piece,  for  a  certain 
convict  acquaintance,  a  complete   disguise,  including  false  whis- 
kers and  moustache,  intended  to  facilitate  his  escape,  which  would, 
no  doubt,  have  been  thereby  readily  effected,  had  not  a  fortunate 
accident  revealed  the  intent  I)}'  revealing  the  means  of  its  accom- 
plishment.    In  this  case,  the  collusive  attempt,  through  facilities 
afforded  by  the  system  of  indiscriminate  visitation,  to  aid  a  con- 
vict in  his  escape,  was  detected  and  foiled;  bu^  in  how  m.iny  cases 
such  attempts  have  succeeded  remains  unknown  and  unwritten. 
It  would  not  be  surprising  if  more  money,  in  the  aggregate, 
should  have^l>een  expended  in  efforts  to  recapture  prisoners  who 
have  escaped  in  this  way,  than  the  entire  amount  of  admission 
fees  received  in  all  the  prisons  of  the  land.     A  moral  influence,  of 
an  exceedingl}'  pernicious  character,  an  influence  which  sets  itself 
in  dea  lly  antagonism  to  all  efforts  at  personal  reformation,  and 
Avhic.i  need  not  here  be  more  specifically  described,  emanates 
from  the  presence  of  such  a  multitude  of  female  visitors  in  our 
prisons.     Numbers  of  Avardcns  both  spoke  to  us  and  wrote  to  us 
of  this  influence,  in  terms  as  emphatic  as  they  Avere  condenmatory. 
It  is  an  important  question  in  the  piactical  administration  of  a 
prison,  whether  or  not  its  inmates  are  allowed  to  bring  their  cares, 
griefs,  burdens  and  complaints  to  their  chief  for  conference  and 
counsel.     The  relation  existing  betAveen  the  head  of  a  penal  insti- 
tution and  those  incarcerated  in  it,  considered  in  this  view,  consti- 
tutes of  itself  a  moral  agency,  of  high  power  a.id  significance.     We 
therefore  instituted  inquiries  upon  this  point,  the  results  of  which 
we  here  briefly  record.     The  answer  to  the  main  inquiry,  given 
by  every  Avarden,  Avas  to  the  effect  that  convicts  may  bring  their 
difliculties  to  him  for  solution  and  relief.     The  warden  of  the  Con- 
necticut state  prison  gives  audience  to  such  cases  onece  every  two 
weeks,  and  oftener  if  desired.     The  Avarden  of  the  prison  of  North- 
ern Indiana  hears  complaints  every  cv^aing.     Mr.  Haynes,  of  the 


220 


PRISONS   AND   REFORMATORIES   OF   THE 


Mnssnchiisctts  prison,  iiifonnccl  us  that  ho  in  h.  the  Imbit  of  pn.ssin<;j 
through  nil  tho  workshops  daily,  thus  giving  to  nil  who  tlosiro  it 
an  opportunity  to  speak  to  him  and  bring  their  troubles  to  his 
notice;  or,  if  any  so  prefer,  it  is  understood  that  they  may  conie 
to  his  office  at  any  hour  of  the  day.  Tl)c  convicts  in  tho  Missouri 
penitcnliary  may,  at  any  time,  see  tho  warden  by  askiiig  permis- 
sion of  the  keeper  in  charge.  Mr.  Miller  expresses  his  preference 
for  this  plan  over  that  which  permits  their  visits  at  stated  hours^ 
because,  as  he  conceives,  only  those  who  are  urged  by  strong 
desire,  and  really  have  something  to  comraunici»te.  will  make  an 
occasion  of  coming:  whereas,  on  tho  other  plan,  many  would  abtise 
tho  privilege  of  coming  without  any  substantial  cause.  Mr.  Cor- 
dier  is  accustomed  to  visit  tho  cell  room  every  evening  after  sup- 
per. As  he  passes  along  in  front  of  the  cells,  any  prisoner  may 
speak  to  him  on  any  subject  he  wishes.  M'*.  C.  listens  to  their 
comi)laints,  and  disposes  of  them  either  immediately  or  on  the  fol- 
lowing day,  always,  however,  giving  his  reasons  for  deciding  as 
he  does,  and  not  otherwise — a  course  which  almost  invariably  car- 
ries the  judgment  of  the  convict  along  with  him. 

The  testimony  of  all  tho  wardens,  with  absolute^  unanimity, 
attests  the  excellent  results  flowing  from  this  practice.  It  wins 
tho  confidence  of  the  prisoners,  attaches  them  to  their  chief,  leads 
them  to  regard  him  as  a  friend,  ever  ready  to  shield  and  assist 
them,  cheers  many  a  sad  heart,  inspires  tho  timid  with  hope,  im- 
parts courage  to  the  despondent,  and  strengthens  tho  resolution  of 
the  feeble  and  vacillating.* 


•  We  have  referred,  in  the  last  scotion,  to  Mr.  G.  B.  Hubboll's  prnotice  in  thia  regnrd, 
when  he  waa  at  the  head  of  the  Sing  Sing  prison.  Wo  think  it  proper  to  make  a  m  -c 
extended  reference  to  that  feature  of  his  administration,  by  citing,  in  a  note,  the  follow- 
ing extract  from  the  annual  report  of  the  Prison  Association  for  1863 :  "  Mr.  Ilnbbell, 
within  a  month  from  the  time  of  entering  upon  his  duties  as  agent  and  warden,  established 
a  rule  in  this  prison,  quite  unknown  elsewhere,  as  far  as  the  committee  arc  informed,  in 
this  country  or  any  other.  It  is  that  of  setting  apart,  each  day,  the  hour  from  three  to 
four  o'clock,  p.  M.,  for  personal  int&rviews  with  such  convicts  as  may  desire  conversation 
with  him.  At  that  hoar,  any  prisoner  who  has  any  burden,  care,  grief  or  anxiety  on  bid 
mind,  is  at  liberty  to  approach  the  chief  officer  of  the  institntion,  for  the  purpose  of  con- 
fiding to  him  his  trouble  r.nd  seeking  from  him  such  relief  as  it  may  be  in  his  power  and 
will  to  impart.  On  an  average  ba  receives  some  ten  or  twelve  such  visits  every  day. 
Members  of  this  committee  have  sat  by  his  side  repeatedly  during  the  honr  appropriated 
to  these  interviews,  listening  to  the  multifarious  complaints  and  requests  presented,  and 
marking  his  manner  of  meeting  them,  and  they  have  been  deeply  impressed  with  the 
genuine  kindness,  the  warm  sympathy,  the  quiet  self-possossion,  the  calm  wisdom,  and  the 
true  christian  courtesy  displayed  by  this  officer  on  these  occasions.  It  was  easy  to  see 
vbat  the  men  confided  implieitiy  in  his  judgment,  acquiesced  cheerfully  in  bis  decisions, 
And  looked  op  to  him  and  reverenced  him  as  a  father.    It  is  naroely  too  mnch  to  say,  that 


UNITBD  STATES  AND  CANADA. 


221 


SECTION  SEVENTH. 
Secular  Instuuctiox. 

A  person,  passing  through  ii  prison  us  n  visitor  on  n  certain 
occasion,  was  shocked  at  the  profane  speech  of  one  of  the  convicts. 
"  Wiiy  Jo  you  not  have  hotter  thoughts  ?"  he  inquired.  "  Better 
thougijts  !"  was  the  forh)rn  response,  "where  shall  I  get  them?" 

In  that  startling  question,  coming  to  us  from  the  dungeon, 
coming  to  us  from  a  felon  and  an  outcast,  we  have  the  whole 
philosophy  of  crime  and  reformation.  "Better  thoughts"  are 
what  society  should  have  supplied  to  criminals  before  they  became 
such,  and  so  have  prevented  their  fall.  "Better  thoughts,"  now  that 
they  have  fallen  and  are  suffering  the  punishment  she  has  imposed 
for  the  breach  of  her  l.iws,  are  what,  by  a  double  bond,  she  is 
required  to  supply  them,  to  the  end  that,  when  released  from  the 
stern  grasp  of  justice,  they  may  "go  and  sin  no  more." 

This  is  what  is  proposed  in  the  intellectual  instruction  of  pri- 
soners, viz  :  to  expel  old  thoughts  from  their  minds,  and  to  pro- 
vide them  Avith  new  and  better  materials  for  meditation.  Far 
more  active  as  well  as  extended  efforts  should  he  made  to  this  end 
than  has  heretofore  been  the  case.  It  is  vain  to  talk  of  ignorant, 
inert  and  corrupt  minds  profiting  by  their  own  unaided  reflections. 
They  will  either  sleep  over  these,  or  do  worse.  No,  they  ir.ust  be 
assailed  from  without.  They  must  be  plied  with  an  external 
intellectual  apparatus,  in  the  form  of  lessons,  lectures,  dicussions.. 
and  books,  by  which  the  mind  will  be  awakened,  stinndatcd,  and 
kept  alive  and  alert;  and  by  which,  also,  it  will  be  stored  with' 
"better  thoughts"  than  the  disgusting  and  corrupting  images 
hitherto  most  familiar.  By  the  mental  stimulants  here  suggested, 
many  a  devil,  as  Captain  Machonochie  has  expressed  it,  will  be 
kept  out,  and,  perhaps,  some  good  angels  be  let  in. 

It  appears  from  Mr.  Hill's  treatise  on  Crime,  that  in  the  Scottish 
prisons,  and  we  believe  the  same  is  now  true  of  English  prisons, 
every  prisoner,  whether  male  or  female,  Avho  is  sentenced  to  three 
months'  continement  or  upwards,  has  an  opportunity  of  learning 


that  hour,  between  three  and  four,  gorerns  Sing  Sing  to-day.  At  any  rate,  it  spreads 
over  the  place  an  atmosphere,  soft,  mild,  purifying  and  elevating.  Nor  a.ro  burdens  and 
prayers  the  only  things  which  it  brings.  Sometimes  important  information,  disclosures 
vital  to  the  interests  of  discipline,  are  brought  to  the  chief  by  prisoners,  who  at  that  time 
find  thoir  way  into  his  presence.  Powerful  is  the  hold  which  the  influences  emanating  from 
this  occasion  give  him  upon  the  love  and  fidelity  of  the  Sing  Sing  convicts,  and  they  are 
not  less  bcneiiceut  than  they  are  strong. 


'  1   ) 

■    I 


« 


It 


222 


PRISONS  AND    REFORMATORIES  OF  THE 


roudiug  and  writing,  and  tVc(iuciitly  arithmetic  ulso  ;  and  in  many 
of  these  prisons,  this  privilege  \h  extended  to  alt  who  desire  it. 
But  in  our  American  prisons,  unfortunately,  the  opportunity  for 
such  mental  improN'enient  is  much  narrower.  Indeed,  the  history 
of  school  instruction  iu  them  is  sliort  and  meagre. 

The  first  notice  we  find  of  any  instruction  of  this  kind  being 
imparted  to  convicts,  during  their  incarceration,  is  contained  in  a 
report  made  to  the  New  York  Scnati>,  in  1822,  by  a  connnittco  on 
the  criminal  law,  in  which,  speaking  of  the  state  prison  in  Green- 
wich, now  a  part  of  the  city  of  New  York,  they  sa}':  "Schools 
are  established  in  the  prison."  IJoyond  this  naked  statement,  no 
information  is  given.  It  is  not  likely  that  these  schools  amounted 
to  much,  as  the  committee  immediately  go  on  to  say  that  the  pri- 
son system  had  utterly  failed  as  an  ag<'ncy  for  reformation;  and 
not  only  so,  but  that  it  operated,  with  alarming  efficacy,  to 
increase  and  extend  the  love  of  vice,  and  a  knowledge  of  the  arts 
and  practices  of  criminally. 

The  next  mention  made  of  anything  like  scholastic  instruction 
in  prisons  is  in  the  report  of  Judge  Gershom  Powers  to  the 
Legislature  of  New  York  on  the  Auburn  prison,  in  1827.  In  that 
paper  Mr.  Powers  states  that  early  in  1826  it  was  found,  on  inves- 
tigation, that  fully  one-eighth  of  the  prisoners  were  either  wholly 
unable  to  read,  or  could  read  only  by  spelling  most  of  the  words. 
Man;'  more,  it  was  ascertained,  could  not  write,  and  wore  other- 
wise grossly  ignorant.  This  suggested  at  once  the  connection 
between  ignorance  and  crime.  The  duty  of  enlightening  by  edu- 
cation these  ignorant  and  degraded  transgressors,  of  giving  them 
"better  thoughts,"  and  so  making  th'un  better  men,  pressed 
heavily  upon  his  mind.  To  this  end,  a  Sui.day-school  was  opened 
in  May  of  that  year,  and  fifty  of  the  most  'gnorant,  whose  ages 
did  not  exceed  twenty-five  years,  were  plactd  in  it.  In  Novem- 
ber following,  the  number  was  increased  to  one  hundred.  The 
school  met  both  morning  and  afternoon.  The  primary  object 
appears  to  have  been  secular  instruction,  inc.uding  writing  and 
arithmetic  as  avcH  as  reading,  r-ombined  vitli  which  were 
lessons  of  a  religious  eli:ii'ii(-ter,  iN'si^'i-ned  Ui  impress  n[)()n  theii' 
minds  the  svusa  of  moral  ami  spji  j' ii;>l  ohligation.  Tiie  [jrivilcu'c 
was  embraced  by  the  convicts  wiili  avidity  and  graiilude.  Their 
application  and  industry  were  unremitting,  and  their  progress  in 
learning  exceeded  the  most  sanguine  expectation.  A  report  made 
by  the  superintendent  in  1827  informs  us  that  few  could  then  be 


UNITED  ETATES  AND  CANADA. 


223 


I'miiid  ill  tho  8chool,  with  the  exception  of  those  recently  ndmittod, 
w  ho  eotfUl  not  rend  the  Bihie  Avith  n  good  degree  of  readiness  and 
ihiciry.  The  use  to  which  some  at  least  of  tho  convicts  put  their 
new  found  ability  may  be  seen  in  the  answer  of  one  of  them  to  his 
tciiciier,  who,  having  listened  to  his  recitation  of  verses  as  long  as 
ho  thought  the  time  would  allow,  inquired  how  much  more  he 
had  to  recite.  His  reply  was:  "  I  believe  I  can  say  thirty  or 
folly  chapters."  When  this  convict  entered  the  school,  he  could 
scarcely  spell  out  a  single  verso.  An  interesting  feature  of  the 
school,  to  which  we  shall  have  occasion  again  to  refer,  was  that 
the  pupils  who  were  put  at  writing  and  arithinotie  wore  taught,  a 
cliiiss  in  each  branch,  by  convict  teachers,  who  discharged  the  duty 
thus  assigned  them  to  the  satisfaction  of  the  authorities.  Convicts 
Icaining  to  read  were  stimulated  by  the  privilege  held  out  to 
them  of  joining  these  classes,  whenever  they  should  have  made 
sufficient  proficiency. 

"We  may  mention,  in  passing,  that  in  all  the  numerous  Sabbath- 
schools  noticed  in  the  last  section  as  having  ''oen  organized  in 
at:*'^.  prisons,  teaching  convicts  to  read  was  made  a  prime  object; 
nnd  before  any  provision  of  law  had  anywhere  been  made  for 
giving  secular  instruction  in  prisons,  not  hundreds  merely  but 
thousands  of  prisoners  hud  been  taught  this  useful  art. 

In  1829,  an  act  was  passed  by  the  Legislature  of  Kentucky, 
requiring  the  warden  not  only  to  procure,  if  possible,  one  sermon 
to  be  preached  to  the  convicts  on  each  Sabbath;"  but  also  "to 
cause  the  convicts,  who  are  unlearned  in  reading,  Avriting  and 
arithmetic,  to  be  taught  in  one  or  other  of  these  branches  at  least 
four  hours  every  Sabbath  day;"  with  a  proviso  annexed  that  the 
expenses  should  "  not  exceed  $250  per  annum."  This  was  the  first 
act  ever  passed  in  Kentucky,  and,  as  far  as  we  know,  in  any  state 
of  our  union,  providing  means  for  the  secular  instruction  of  con- 
victs. The  act  Avas  enforced,  and  instruction  given  agreeably  to 
its  terms,  during  Avhat  remained  of  Mr.  Joel  Scott's  wardenship, 
a  period  of  five  years.  Mr.  Scott  informs  us,  in  one  of  his  reports, 
that  tho  prisoners  were  taken  from  their  cells  on  Sabbath  morning, 
;uh1  wore.  t'ii<ra_u'(>(l  llirMiialiout  the  day,  meal  times  ixcepted,  in 
religious  iiistiuclioii,  or  in  Icaniiiig  to  read,  write  and  c^'pher.  He 
further  says,  that  at  least  one-third  of  those  scut  to  tho  penitentiary 
are  entirely  illiterate,  and  that  most  of  the  others  have  a  very  imper- 
fect knowledge  of  the  rudiments  imparted  in  common  schools.  The 
pevsons  employed  as  teachers  received  tAvo  dollars  a  day  for  their 


224 


PRISONS   AND   REFORMATORIES  OF   THE 


services.  Tho  secular  instruction  required  by  the  law  was  discoii- 
tinueil  under  Mr.  Scott's  immediate  successor,  Mr.  Thomas  S. 
Theobald.  Tho  practice  was  revived  by  Mr.  Newton  Craig,  who 
succeeded  Mr.  Theoljald,  in  all  its  original  lit'o  and  vigor.  In  liis 
time,  u  new  chapel  and  Sunday-school  room,  (JO  by  40  Icet,  was 
built,  which  he  pronounced  the  greatest  improvement  made  in  the 
prison  tor  years.  In  this  room  the  prisoners  were  asscnjbleil 
throughout  tho  Lord's  day,  receiving  lessons  partly  in  religion 
and  partly  in  the  common  school  branches;  the  educated  convicts 
teaching  the  illiterate,  an  arrangement  reported  as  "working  W(dl." 
Two  of  tho  prison  officers  remained  in  the  room  to  keep  onjer, 
and  see  that  tho  teachers  did  their  duty.  The  prisoners  are  nsiid 
to  have  taken  a  lively  interest  in  the  school,  and  their  "proHtiiig 
appeared  unto  all."  The  arrangement  was  regarded  as  a  material 
aid  in  promoting  morality  and  the  reformation  of  tho  prisoners. 

The  same  year,  1829,  in  which  Kentucky  enacted  the  law  just 
noticed  in  regard  to  conmion  school  instruction  in  her  penitentiary, 
u  report,  containing  matter  of  interest  on  tho  same  subject,  was 
made  to  tho  Legislature  of  New  York  by  commissioners  Hopkins, 
Tibbetta  and  Allen.  These  gentlemen  speak,  in  their  report,  of  a 
suitable  apartment  as  about  being  finished,  at  Sing  Sing,  for  a 
"chapel  and  school  room."  Whether  the  school  room  here  referred 
to  was  for  a  Sunday  or  a  secular  school  does  not  appear  ;  most 
prol)ably  the  former  ;  for,  although  no  Sab])ath  school  was  then  in 
existence,  a  year  or  two  afterwards  the  chaplain  jpeaks  of  such  a 
school  as  in  successful  operation.  Moreover,  it  is  plain  from  liis 
report  that  tho  instruction  imparted  was  largely  of  a  common 
school  character.  He  says  that  the  school  consisted  of  sixty  to 
eighty  men,  all  of  whom  were  unable  to  read  on  entering,  and 
most  of  whom  did  not  even  know  the  alphabet ;  adding  that  they 
showed  an  intense  desire  to  learn,  and  that  their  progress  cor- 
responded to  their  zeal. 

The  commissioners,  in  their  report,  state  that  the  chaplain,  Mr. 
Barrett,  was  making  the  greatest  exertion  to  teach  the  ignorant  to 
read,  making  use  of  the  Bible  as  his  only  school  book,  and  impart- 
ing his  lessons  at  the  grate  of  their  cell  doors.  An  interesting 
account  is  given  of  a  convict  whom  he  taught  to  read  in  five  Aveeks, 
from  the  first  chapter  of  Genesis.  At  the  end  of  the  fifth  week, 
he  read  fluently  and  correctly  the  whole  of  the  first  chapter,  and, 
of  course,  after  that  had  no  more  difficulty.  He  had  mastered  the 
art,  and  held  in  his  hand  the  key  to  all  the  treasures  of  wisdom. 


UNITED  STATES  AND  CANADA. 


225 


To  him  the  question  had  boon  solvod,  >vhcro  w  ^  how  he  should 
get  "hotter  thoughtH." 

In  the  report  of  the  Prison  Disciplioo  Society,  for  1841,  thrco 
iteiuij  of  jntorcst  nro  recorded,  bearing  on  the  8ul>jcct  of  secular 
instructiou  in  prisons,  and  showing  a  gratifying  advance  in  publlo 
opiiiioi!  in  that  direction.  The  first  is  u  stitt(  inent  to  the  ciTect  that, 
ill  the  House  of  Correction  in  South  Doston,  a  day  school  hud  been 
taught  by  the  clerk,  two  hours  ouch  day,  during  several  yours,  for 
a  class  of  young  convicts,  in  the  common  branches  of  knowledge, 
ill  u  room  carefully  fitted  up  for  that  purpose,  and  that  great  good 
had  resulted  therefrom.  The  second  is  a  declaration  of  the  Gov- 
ernor of  New  York,  Wni.  H.  Seward,  in  his  annual  message,  in 
thcNO  words  :  "  I  would  have  the  school  room,  in  the  prison,  fitted 
us  carefully  as  the  solitary  cell  and  the  ^rorkshop  ;  and,  although 
attendance  there  cannot  be  so  frequent,  I  would  have  it  quite  as 
regular."  The  third  is  an  urgent  plea  by  the  chaplain  of  the 
prison  ut  Wothersfield,  the  Rev.  Josiuh  Brewer,  in  his  reporf  for 
tliut  your,  for  school  instruction  to  convicts.  On  turning  to  the 
report  referred  to,  we  find  that,  after  urging  that  attention  to  the 
elementary  brunches  be  exacted  of  the  more  illiterate,  ho  says  : 
"And  why  should  not  oral  instruction,  by  familiar  lectures  on  the 
practical  concerns  of  life,  and  various  topics  of  history,  science 
and  literature,  bo  imparted  to  all  ?  The  laws  of  the  human  mind 
undergo  no  change,  surely,  by  the  body's  being  deprived  of  its 
liberty  ;  and  what  has  been  found,  on  full  experiment,  to  elevuto 
the  tone  of  society  generally,  holds  out  the  promise  of  good  in 
ptu'ticulur  instances."  Here  we  have  Mr.  Organ's  lectures  in  the 
intermediate  prisons  of  Ireland  clearly  foreshadowed. 

These  are  the  first  intimations  Ave  have  ,ttny where  met  with  of 
giving  regular  secular  instruction  to  convicts  in  schools  and  classes. 
The  next  year,  1842,  the  same  idea  was  further  urgeii  '  y  a  con:- 
niittce  of  the  Legislature,  in  reference  to  the  Connetii!  ut  state 
prison.  They  say:  "  The  opportunities  forgiving  instruction  on 
week  daj's  are  not  considerable.  Tiio  committee  would  recom- 
mend that  prisoners,  in  small  divisions,  should  iu  rotation,  have 
time  and  opportunity  of  receiving  instruction  from  the  chaplain. 
If  half  of  each  day,  or  from  three  to  four  hours,  were  allowed 
among  two  or  three  such  small  divisions  of  prisoners,  the  whole 
number  might  have  an  hour  and  a  half  or  two  hours  once  a  fort- 
night, which  would  not  take  much  from  the  earnings  of  each  pri- 
soner.   Better  still,  if  each  division  could  be  tried  faithfully  with 

fAsscra.  No.  35.]  15 


226 


PBISONS  AND  REFORMATORIES  OF   THB 


an  hour  and  a  half,  or  two  hours  once  in  each  week,  in  addition  to 
the  opportunities  now  afforded  to  them."  The  same  year,  the 
directors  of  the  prison,  among  whom  we  observe  the  name  of  the 
Hon.  Henry  Barnard,  Commissioner  of  the  new  Bureau  of  Educa- 
tion in  Washington,  adopted  a  code  of  rules  and  reguhitions,  relat- 
ing to  the  duties  of  the  chaplain,  one  of  which  is  that  "he  shall 
use  his  utmost  endeavors  to  instruct,  through  the  grating  of  the 
cell  doors,  all  those  who  are  unable  to  read." 

The  chaplains  of  Auburn  and  Sing  Sing,  about  the  same  time, 
were  pleading  hard,  and  piling  argument  upon  argument,  for  an 
enlargement  of  the  means  of  instruction  in  their  respective  prisons. 
They  insist  that  it  is  equally  the  dictate  of  philanthropy  and  sound 
policy  that  larger  and  more  suitable  provision  should  be  made  for 
the  education  of  the  convicts,  and  that  at  least  one  or  two  hours 
each  day  should  be  devoted  to  their  intellectual  improvement, 
alleging  that  thus,  and  not  otherwise,  that  is,  by  elevating  their 
minds  and  giving  them  "  better  thoughts,"  can  they  be  prepared 
to  become  better  sous,  better  husbands,  better  fathers,  better  citi- 
zens. Mr.  Luckey  states  that  the  Sunday-school  at  Sing  Sing 
had  increased,  within  the  year,  from  114  to  337,  one-half  of  whom 
were  learning  to  read;  and  of  those  who  had  been  discharged 
during  the  same  time,  no  less  than  twenty-five  had  learned  the  art 
in  the  prison.  A  pleasing  circumstance  here  was  that  from  the 
lack  of  other  teachers,  a  number  of  the  convicts  were  employed  in 
that  capacity,  who  dischai'ged  the  duty  with  great  acceptance, 
taking  the  greatest  interest  in  it,  and  preparing  themselves  for  it 
with  the  utmost  care  by  the  use  of  Bible  dictionaries,  sacred 
geographies,  and  such  other  help  as  they  could  obtain.  One  of 
these  convict  teachers,  having  received  a  pardon  from  the  Govcrnoi" 
on  Friday  morning,  begged  that  he  might  remain  in  the  prison 
till  Monday,  that  he  might  meet  his  Sabbath  class  once  mox'e,  a 
request  which  shows  more  clearly  than  perhaps  anything  else 
could,  the  interest  taken  in  the  work. 

Mr.  Francis  C.  Gray,  in  his  "Prison  Discipline  in  America," 
published  in  1848,  informs  us  that,  at  that  time,  there  was,  in  the 
Massachusetts  prison,  a  society  formoral  improvement  and  nnitnal 
aid — in  effect,  as  we  shall  see,  a  debating  society — of  which  the 
warden,  chaplain  and  clerk  were  president,  vice-president  and 
secretary.  All  cohvicts,  approved  })ythe  president,  could  become 
♦members,  on  signing  the  constitution,  which  contained  a  promise 
to  lead  an  orderly,  upright  life,  and  never  to  taste  intoxicating 


UNITED  BtATES  AND  CANADA. 


227 


liquor  after  their  discharge.  About  three-fourths  of  the  prisoners 
were  members.  There  was  a  committee  of  conference,  consisting 
of  the  otScers  and  six  convicts,  chosen  by  their  fellow  members 
and  approved  by  the  president,  to  prepare  business  and  propose 
measures  for  promoting  the  objects  in  view.  The  society  held  its 
meetings  once  a  fortnight,  at  which  the  chief  business  was  the  free 
discussion  of  some  que&tion  proposed  at  the  previous  sitting. 
Here  we  have  the  weekly  competitive  examinations  of  Mr.  Organ's 
intermediate  prisoners  at  Smithfield  foreshadowed,  just  as  we  saw 
the  foreshadowing  of  his  system  of  daily  lectures  in  one  of  the 
reports  of  the  chaplain  of  the  Connecticut  state  prison.  "  The 
society  was  founded,"  Mr.  Gray  observes,  "  on  the  consideration 
that  convicts  are  to  return  to  the  society  of  men,  not  so  totally 
different  from  themselves,  as  some  would  represent,  and  on  the 
belief  that,  tliough  erring  and  criminal  men,  they  are  not  such 
iucarnate  demons,  that  every  word  is  infectious,  and  every  touch 
contamination ;  but  that,  on  the  contrary,  all  such  intercourse 
among  tliem  as  docs  not  tend  to  corrupt  them,  to  produce  disorder, 
or  to  interrupt  their  labor,  and  takes  place  in  the  presence  and 
withiri  the  hearing  of  the  officers,  engaging  the  sympathies  and 
occupying  and  interesting  the  minds  of  the  prisoners,  is  not  only 
harmless,  but  humanizing  and  beneficial."  This  is  a  view  which 
\fQ  have  endeavored  to  enforce  in  our  section  on  discipline,  and 
we  are  glad  to  find  it  embraced  and  supported  by  so  calm  and 
philosophical  a  thinker  as  Mr.  Gray. 

In  1847,  a  comprehensive  prison  act,  prepared  by  a  committee 
of  the  Prison  Association,  was  passed  by  the  Legislature  of  New 
York,  one  of  the  provisions  of  Avhich  was  that  common  school 
teachers  should  be  appointed  for  all  the  state  prisons,  proportion- 
ate in  number  to  the  size  of  each  prison,  and  to  the  number  likely 
to  be  found  therein  unable  to  read.  We  have  seen  that,  as  far 
back  as  1829,  Kentucky  provided,  by  law,  for  four  hours'  instruc- 
tion of  her  convicts  in  reading,  writing  and  arithmetic,  to  be  given 
on  the  Sabbath ;  but  this  was  the  first  law  ever  enacted  in  the 
United  States,  creating  a  distinct  class  of  officers,  whose  duty  it 
should  be  to  impart  such  instruction  during  the  week.  Hence  the 
Prison  Discipline  Society,  in  their  report  of  1852,  say  :  "To  the 
state  of  New  York  belongs  the  honor  of  taking  the  lead  in  this 
branch  of  prison  discipline,  viz :  common  education  in  prisons." 
Unfortunately,  the  salary  attached  to  the  office  was  so  small  ($150) 
that  teachers  could  be  obtained  for  only  one  hour  daily. 


228 


PRISONS  AND  REFORMATORIES  OF   THE 


Other  states  have  followed  the  example  of  New  York. 
Generally  this  business  is  given  into  the  charge  of  the  chap- 
lains, and  not  unfrequently  they  are  required  to  do  the 
teaching  themselves  ;  sometimes  in  a  school,  but  more  commonly 
through  the  gratings  of  the  cell  doors.  We  append  the  provision 
of  the  prison  act  of  Indiana  relating  to  this  subject :  "  The  moral 
instructor  shall,  in  addition  to  his  other  diuies  and  services,  teach 
such  of  the  convicts  as  the  warden  may  send  to  him  for  the  pur- 
pose, ^he  art  of  reading,  writing,  arithmetic  and  geography,  at 
such  hours  as  may  be  found  most  conducive  to  the  interests  of 
the  institution."* 

Libraries  in  prisons,  now  regarded  as  the  right  arm  of  discipline 
and  an  essential  agent  in  reformation,  sprang  up,  as  a  general 
thing,  at  a  later  date  than  efforts  to  educate  the  more  ignorant 
class  of  prisoners,  of  which,  indeed,  they  are  but  the  natural  out- 
growth. The  first  notice  we  find,  looking  towards  the  creation  of 
a  prison  library,  is  in  a  code  of  rules  and  regulations  enacted  by 
the  inspectors  of  the  Kentucky  penitentiary,  as  far  back  as  the 
year  1802.  The  following  is  the  provision  of  the  said  code  relat-' 
ing  to  this  subject :  "The  convicts  shall  be  encouraged  to  employ 
any  leisure  time  in  reading;  and  donations  of  books  will  be 
thankfully  received ;  and  the  keeper  shall  take  care  of  them,  and 
procure  a  list,  with  the  names  of  the  donors." 

The  first  prison  library  in  New  York,  and  one  of  the  earliest,  if 
not  the  earliest,  in  the  United  States  (except  what  may  have 
resulted  from  the  above  recited  action  in  Kentucky),  was  estab- 
lished in  Sing  Sing  prison  in  1840,  under  Mr.  D.  L.  Seymour,  as 
principal  officer,  and  the  Kev.  Jno.  Luckey,  as  chaplain.  These 
gentlemen  applied  to  Gov.  Wni.  H.  Seward,  who  told  them  to  get 
what  books  were  wanted  and  send  the  bill  to  him.  About  three 
hundred  dollars'  worth  were  procured,  and  Mr.  Seward  paid  the 
bill  out  of  his  private  purse. 


*  While  these  ghects  are  goinj;  larougb  the  press,  we  have  received  a  letter  from  Mr. 
Cordier,  of  Wisconsin,  of  which  the  following  is  an  extract : 

"  I  have  succeeded  in  having  a  bill  passed  by  our  Legislature  last  winter,  authorizing 
me  to  establish  a  school  for  the  purpose  of  teachimi;  our  convicts  in  the  common  branches 
of  education.  Saturday  and  Sunday  afternoons  .  j  now  devoted  to  this  object.  It  is  really 
surprising  to  notice  the  seal  manifested,  even  by  aged  men,  to  learn  to  read  and  write.  I 
am  pioud  to  Ray,  that  hereafter  no  convict  wiU  I«avo  this  prison  without  a  knowledge  of 
those  two  useful  and  important  branches.  And  what  an  excellent  means  of  discipline ! 
Not  to  be  deprived  of  the  advantages  this  lohool  affords,  all  the  scholars  behave  them- 
selves with  the  utmost  deoornm.  About  Mreaty  visit  the  school  now,  and  not  one  of 
them  ever  gave  cause  for  complaint.  I  am  convinced  that  secular  instruction  has  been 
neglected  to  a  great  extent  in  our  prisoBf .  Ignorance,  being  the  mother  of  nearly  all 
crimes,  must  certaintv  be  removed  at  first,  if  a  thorough  reformation  shall  bn  realized. 
As  to  this  iob9ol,  I  wish  only  to  lay,  that  I  have  much  faith  in  the  success  of  our  under- 
taking." 


UNITED  STATES  AND  CANADA. 


229 


The  following  year,  1841,  a  hundred  dollars  were  appropriated 
by  the  Legislature  of  New  Jersey,  to  lay  the  foundation  of  a 
library  in  the  state  prison  at  Trenton. 

In  1847,  we  find  libraries  existing  in  most  of  the  state  prisons 
of  the  country,  one  of  which — that  of  Ohio — is  reported  as  con- 
taining 3,000  volumes. 

The  testimony  of  prison  officers  was  uniform  as  to  the  good  effects 
of  this  agency.  They  say  that  the  books  were  sought  with  eager- 
ness and  read  with  avidity  by  large  numbers  of  convicts,  and  that 
as  the  fondness  for  reading  increased,  the  occasion  for  punishment 
diminished.  Many  had  evidently  become  interedcd  in  acquiring 
useful  knowledjro,  and,  as  a  consequence,  thc}  were  iar  more  con- 
tented and  cheerful. 

The  foundation  of  one  prison  library  is  so  unique,  and  withal 
so  interesting,  that  we  cannot  withhold  it.  In  the  fall  of  1846, 
a  clergyman  from  Illinois,  on  invitation  by  the  chaplain,  con- 
ducted the  usual  evening  service  in  the  chapel  of  the  Massachu- 
setts state  prison.  He  expressed  his  particular  delight  at  seeing 
the  prison  library,  and  congratulated  the  prisoners  that  they  were 
80  much  better  off  in  this  ^espect  than  the  inmates  of  the  state 
prison  at  Alton,  who  had  no  books  at  all.  The  above  statement 
is  condensed  from  the  work  on  Prison  Discipline  in  America  by 
Mr.  Gray,  who  proceeds  to  say:  "The  next  day,  as  the  chaplain 
was  walking  through  one  of  the  work  shops,  a  prisoner  having 
asked  leave  to  quit  his  work  and  speak  to  him,  told  him  that  he 
had  some  books  which  he  could  spare,  and  should  like  to  send  to 
the  prisoners  at  Alton,  if  permitted,  and  so  had  some  of  his  8hop» 
mates.  The  chaplain,  having  conferred  with  the  warden,  stated 
in  the  chapel,  after  evening  prayers,  thai  such  an  application  had 
been  made  to  him,  and  added,  that  if  any  prisoner  had  books 
which  he  wished  to  send  to  the  Alton  prison,  he  might  leave  them 
in  the  adjoining  room,  on  coming  to  prayers  the  next  morning. 
He  also  sent  word  to  his  friend  the  clergyman,  that  if  he  would 
call  at  the  prison  the  next  day,  he  would  find  some  books  for 
Alton.  The  reverend  gentleman  went  accordingly,  and  took  with 
him  a  large  silk  handkerchief  to  carry  off  the  books.  What  was 
his  astonishment  to  find,  in  the  room  adjoining  the  chapel,  more 
than  four  hundred  bound  volumes,  besides  tracts  and  pamphlets. 
The  silk  handkerchief  would  not  do;  and  the  prisoners  requested 
permission  to  make  boxes  to  pack  the  books  in." 

Having  thus  sketched,  as  far  as  the  sources  of  information  were 


230 


PRISONS  AND   BEF3RMAT0RIES  OF   THE 


P'^ 


open  to  us  and  the  limits  to  which  we  are  confined  would  permit, 
the  origin  and  progress  of  secular  instruction  in  prisons,  we  now 
proceed  to  exhibit  the  actual  state  and  condition  of  this  important 
agency  in  the  prisons  to  which  our  observations  extended. 

The  provision  made  for  the  instruction  of  the  convicts  in  the 
provincial  penitentiary  of  Canada,  in  the  elementary  branches  of 
a  common  education,  is  worthy  of  a  humane  and  enlightened  gov- 
ernment. A  teacher  is  employed  who  gives  his  whole  time  to  the 
work.  He  is  aided  by  as  many  issistants  as  may  be  needed,  who 
are  selected  from  the  best  ed  ic  i^d  and  best  conducted  of  the 
convicts.  The  cooperation  o.  the  jO  convict  teachers  in  the  work 
of  instruction  is  found  to  be  of  essential  service.  Under  the  direc- 
tion and  superintendence  of  the  school  master,  they  teach  the 
classes  assigned  them  to  the  entire  satisfaction  of  the  prison  autho- 
rities. The  school  is  attended  by  all  the  inmates  of  the  prison 
who  need  instruction  in  reading,  writing  or  arithmetic,  and  who 
are  not  incapacitated  from  learning  by  defective  sight,  deafness, 
mental  imbecility,  or  other  infirmity.  There  are  four  distinct  sec- 
tions of  prisoners,  whose  members  come  under  instruction  In  th^ 
course  of  the  day,  as  follows:  A  morning  class,  commencing  at  six 
o'clock  in  summ:  r  and  seven  and  a  half  in  winter,  and  closing  at 
nine;  a  noon  class,  commencing  at  twelve  and  a  half  and  closing 
at  Ciie;  an  afternoon  class,  commencing  at  one  and  closing  at  three; 
and  an  evening  class,  from  six  to  seven  and  a  half  in  sitmmer.  and 
from  five  to  seven  in  winter.  The  noon  class,  which  is  th"?  largest, 
numbering  sixty  or  mere  members,  is  composed  of  convi-^.ts  who 
are  engaged  on  contract  work,  and  who  devote  to  leseon  le.u'ning 
one-half  of  the  t?me  allotted  to  the  raid-day  meal.  The  ev^uiug 
class  is  made  up  of  prisoners  who  labor  on  the  Rockwood  Asylum 
for  Criminal  Insane,  at  the  quarry,  and  on  farm  and  garden  work. 
Between  200  and  300  convicts  are  in  this  niiinner  brought  under 
daily  instruction  for  a  period  varying  from  half  an  hour  to  three 
hours.  The  gentleman  who  had  officiated  as  schoolmaster  for 
some  fifteen  years,  had  just  retired,  and  his  successor  had  not  been 
appointed  at  the  time  of  our  visit,  so  that,  much  to  our  regret,  we 
had  no  opportunity  of  seeing  the  prison  schools  in  operntioii. 
From  the  printed  reports  of  the  late  teacher,  we  learn  that  these 
ignorant,  criminal  and  degraded  beings — though  he  was  ever  alone 
and  unarmed  in  tlie  midst  of  them— observed,  during  school 
hours,  the  strictest  order  and  decorum;  that  they  highly  prized 
the  opportunities  for  improvement  afforded  them;  that  their  thirst 


UNITED  STATES  AND   CANADA. 


231 


for  knowledge  increased  iu  proportion  as  it  was  gratified;  and  that 
they  applied  themselves  to  study  with  a  zeal  worthy  of  all  praise, 
and  Avith  a  success  equal  to  that  attained  by  the  generality  of  pu- 
pils in  other  schools. 

There  is  no  prison  in  the  United  States,  we  are  sorry  to  say,  in 
whicli  so  much  time  and  toil  are .  given  to  this  department  of  re- 
formatory agencies. 

The  proportion  of  prisoners  in  the  state  prisons,  who  are  una- 
ble to  read  at  the  time  of  their  committal,  varies  a  good  deal  in 
the  several  states;  the  extremes,  as  reported,  being  from  one- 
twentieth  in  Vermont,  where  the  proportion  of  the  wholly  illit- 
erate is  smallest,  to  one-third  in  Wisconsin,  where  it  is  greatest. 
In  other  states,  the  proportion  fluctuates  between  these  extremes. 
In  Maine,  it  is  reported  at  one-fifteenth;  i:i  Massachusetts,  at  one- 
tenth;  in  Connecticut,  at  one-eighth;  in  New  Hampshire  and 
Pennsylvania,  at  one-seventh;  iu  Indiana  and  Ohio,  at  one-fourtb; 
in  New  York,  one-tenth;  at  Auburn,  oue-fiftk;  at  Clinton, 
and  one-third  at  Sing  Sing.  Of  convicts  who  give  themselves  in 
as  able  to  read,  from  a  fourth  to  a  half  cannot,  as  a  general  thing, 
do  so  without  spelling  out  more  or  less  of  the  words;  and  in 
most  prisons,  few  really  good  readers  are  received. 

In  much  the  larger  number  of  prisons,  secular  instmction  is 
imparted;  but  in  some,  and  in  this  category  are  included  Ken- 
tucky, Massachusetts,  Michigan,  Missouri,  Rhode  Island,  Ver- 
mont and  Wisconsin,  either  none  at  all  is  given,  or  only  such  as 
J3  imparted  in  Sabbath-schools.  In  two  states  onlj',  whose  pris- 
ons were  examined  by  us — Indiana  and  Ohio — is  instruction  given 
in  classes.  In  both  these  states,  the  chaplains  are  the  teachers. 
In  Indiana,  the  school  is  held  from  November  1st  to  March 
1st,  a  period  of  only  four  months  in  the  year.  We  presume  it  to 
he  held  in  the  evening,  as  the  law  which  creates  it  requires  that 
the  convicts  should  be  taught  "  at  such  hoia-s  as  may  be  found 
most  conducive  to  the  interests  of  the  institution;"  which  means, 
doubtless,  "least  prejudicial  to  its  j'?»a»»c»a/  interests,"  as  these, 
in  American  nomenclature,  are  he  interests  in  all  pcnaL  establish- 
ments. The  convicts  generally  attend  the  school,  and  take  much 
interest  in  its  c^er^isies. 

In  Ohio,  school  is  held,  as  it  should  be,  throughout  the  year, 
on  five  d^ys  of  eich  week,  being  omitted  on  Saturday.     The 

hours  are  from  three  o'clock,  p.  m.,  to  the  closing  up  of  the  prison 

at  night.    Many  commence  with  the  alphabet,  a?  id  are  taught 


282 


PBISOVf  AND  BEFORMATORIES   OF   THE 


sepftrately  till  they  begin  to  rentl,  after  which  they  are  grouped 
into  classes,  and  advauccd  by  regular  gradations  in  school  read- 
ers (McGuffi&'s  first,  second,  third  and  fourth).  Penmanship, 
arithmetic,  geography  and  grammar  are  also  taught.  Very  general 
interest  is  taken  in  the  school  by  the  prisoners,  and  in  some 
instances,  we  were  told,  remarkable  proficiency  is  shown.  The 
chaplain  is  aided  by  coixvicts  in  the  work  of  instruction. 

In  Connecticut,  New  Hampshire,  and  the  western  penitentiary 
of  Pennsylvania,  secular  instructiou  is  given  by  the  chaplaii  s  to 
each  prisoner  separately,  at  the  door  of  his  coll;  and  in  Maihe 
(for  the  present)  by  the  wife  of  the  warden,  in  the  sante  way.  In 
the  western  penitentiary,  the  warden  informed  us,  very  little 
interest  i«  taken  by  the  convicts  in  thewe  exercistis.  In  the  other 
prisons  named  in  this  paragraph,  most  of  the  prisoners  were 
reported  as  taking  a  lively  interest  and  making  good  proficiciicy 
in  their  istudies. 

In  the  three  stair  [uisons  of  New  York,  and  tho  eastern  penitei). 
tiary  of  Penusylvaniit,  scho  Imastt  {&  are  employed  to  give  lessons 
to  the  convicts.  In  both  these  states,  the  lessons  are  given  to  thq 
prisoners  in  their  ceils  In  New  York  this  is  done  only  at  night, 
and  through  the  gratings  of  the  cell  doors.  In  Pennsylvania, 
instruction  is  given  throughout  the  day,  and  the  teachers  ei?ter  the 
cells  for  the  purpose. 

In  Ohio  and  Connecticut  alone,  as  far  as  we  are  informed,  is 
inatruction  imparted  in  branches  as  high  as  geography  and  giam- 
mar  5  in  the  latter  state,  even  rhetoric  is  taught  to  some.  Else- 
whero>  only  reading  and  writing  are  taught,  and  the  rudiments  of 
arithmetic;  the  progress  in  this  latter  branch  not  being  ordinarily 
beyond  the  rule  of  three,  if  indeed  it  reach  oven  to  that  point. 

All  the  prisons  visited  by  us  have  miscellaneous  libraries  for  the 
use  of  the  prisoners.  The  aggregate  number  of  volumes  in  thir- 
teen prisons  is  20,413,  being  an  average  of  1,570  to  each.  The 
largest  prison  library  in  the  country  i.i  that  at  Sing  Sing,  which 
contains  4,000  volumes,  and  the  smallest  reported  is  in  the  Wis- 
consin prison,  containing  250  volumes. 

In  the  major  part  of  the  prisons,  the  chaplains,  either  independ- 
ently or  in  conjunction  with  the  wardens,  arc  charged  with  the 
duty  of  selecting  the  books  for  the  libraries.  In  a  few,  this  duty 
is  devolved  upon  the  wardens;  and  in  a  still  smaller  number,  on 
the  inspectors. 

The  character  of  the  books  composing  the  prison  libraries  is, 


DNITED   STATES  AND   CANADA. 


233 


as  might  be  expected,  quite  miscellaneous.  Works  on  religion, 
histories,  biographies,  travels,  Avorks  on  science  and  general  litera- 
ture, and  standard  novels  (those  of  a  sensational  character  being 
generally  excluded)  predominate. 

In  the  prisons  of  Ohio  and  Wisconsin,  prisoners  are  not  allowed 
a  choice  as  to  the  books  to  be  read  by  them,  but  are  furnished,  hi 
the  former  once  in  two  weeks  and  in  the  latter  once  each  week, 
with  such  as  the  officers  may  choose  to  give  them — an  arrangement 
T  hich  we  cannot  commend,  and  which  we  were  surprised  to  find 
;r>  nstitutions  where  there  is  so  much,  in  other  respects,  to  approve. 
In  all  the  other  prisons  visited  by  us,  the  convicts  are  allowed  to 
select  such  books  as  may  suit  their  taste.     It  is  not  strange  that 
the  preference  should  be  given,  in  the  majority  of  cases,  to  story 
books,  magazines,  and  the  lighter  literature.     But  the  reading  of 
convicts  is  by  no  means  confined  to  works  of  this  character.    His- 
tories, travels,  biographies,  and  even  treatises  on  science  and  phi- 
losophj',  find  many  readers.     This  we  found  to  be  pre-eminently 
the  case  in  the  Massachusetts  state  prison,  where  Humboldt's  Cos- 
mos, and  other  works  of  a  no  less  elevated  and  philosophical 
character  have  been  read  through  by  many  of  the  convicts.  Indeed, 
the  testimony  is  quite  uniform  to  the  effect  that  numbers  of  the 
prisoners  are  most  evidently  growing  in  useful  knowledge;  and 
we  think,  from  the  evidence  before  us,  that  there  is  more  reading, 
and  that  of  a  solid  character,  too,  done  by  the  convicts  in  our 
American  state  prisons,  tlian  by  any  equal  number  of  w     king 
people  taken  promiscuously  in  free  society.     On  this  subject  Mi*. 
Cordier,  of  Wisconsin,  says:  *'  I  really  belive  that  no  convict,  unless 
he  be  a  perfect  idiot,  leaves  the  prison  without  having  his  mind 
improved,  and  without  having  gained  some  knowledge." 

The  method  of  distributing  the  books  to  the  prisoners  varies  in 
different  prisons.  In  Massachusetts  the  following  plan  is  adopted: 
The  convicts  are  allowed  to  take  out  one  book  at  a  time,  on  Mon- 
days and  Saturdays,  and  they  keep  it  a  fortnight.  If  it  is  wanted 
for  a  longer  period,  permission  must  be  obtained  from  the  libra- 
rian. Each  volume  is  numbered,  and  every  prisoner  has  a  cata- 
logue and  card,  and  puts  down  on  the  card  the  numbers  of  (say 
twenty  to  fifty)  such  books  as  he  would  like  to  read,  so  that  he 
may  be  sure  of  securing  some  one.  He  lays  his  book,  after  he  has 
read  it,  on  the  stool  in  his  cell,  with  the  card  in  the  book,  and  the 
runner  takes  them  and  carries  them  to  the  assistant  librarian,  who 
changes  the  book  and  sends  back  another.    As  the  book  is  read, 


234 


PRISONS  AND  REFORMATORIES  OF   THE 


the  iiUDiber  is  rubbed  off  the  card,  and  another  one  placed  in  its 
stead. 

A  somewhat  smilar  method  of  distribution  is  pursued  in  the 
custeru  penitentiary,  Pa.  The  books  are  distributed  every  two 
weeks,  and  each  applicant  is  ullo\ved  to  take  out  one  large  volume 
or  two  of  more  moderate  size.  Every  convict  has  in  his  cell  a 
printed  catalogue  and  a  card  slate,  on  which  he  marks  eighteen 
numbers,  out  of  which  the  librarian  is  able  to  obtain  some  book 
that  will  suit  his  taste,  though  not  always  the  one  that  he  would 
prefer. 

A  very  different  plan  from  either  of  the  above  is  adopted  in  two 
of  our  New  York  prisons — those  at  Sing  Sing  and  Clinton.  There 
the  prisoners  come  in  squads  or  companies,  once  in  three  weeks, 
and  each  one  selects  one  or  two  volumes  for  himself  of  those  that 
may  be  upon  the  shelves  at  the  time.  No  doubt  a  good  deal  of 
time  is  consumed  in  this  way,  and  the  work  might  be  done,  is 
done  iu  other  prisons,  in  a  much  shorter  period.  But  it  is  at  least 
doubtful  whether  it  would  be  wise  to  change  the  method  on  this 
ground.  There  are  obvious  advantages,  and  those  connected  with 
the  higher  ends  of  prison  discipline,  in  the  mode  of  distribution 
practised  in  these  prisons.  The  coming  of  several  hundred  pri- 
soners every  three  weeks  into  the  chaplain's  office  affords  him  the 
opportunity  of  becoming  personally  acquainted  with  them,  and  of 
dropping  into  their  ear,  perchance  into  their  heart,  many  a  wise 
counsel  and  exhortation.  These  opportunities,  we  have  reason  to 
think,  are  gladly  embraced  and  faithfully  used. 

At  Auburn,  a  plan  if<  in  use,  differing  from  either  of  the  above 
and,  as  it  strikes  us,  inferior  to  both.  Prisoners  have  the  privilege 
of  exchanging  their  books  once  a  week.  The  chaplain  sen*' 3  a 
quantity  of  books  to  each  shop,  together  with  a  list  of  the  same, 
to  the  keeper;  and  thus  the  exchange  is  effected  in  the  shop  M'here 
they  are  at  work.  The  objection  to  this  is,  first,  that  it  limits  the 
convict's  selection  to  a  very  small  part  of  the  library,  and,  sec- 
ondly, that  it  must  be  a  source  (so,  at  least,  we  should  think)  of 
more  or  less  disorder  in  the  workshops. 

The  rule  in  all  prisons  is  to  examine  books  on  their  return;  but 
it  is  enforced,  as  indeed  all  rules  are,  with  different  degrees  of 
stringency.  In  the  Wisconsin  prison,  if  books — and  they  are  care- 
fully scrutinized  when  returned — are  found  soiled,  dog-eared  or  in 
liny  way  marred  or  defaced,  the  offender  is  deprived  of  the  privi- 
lege of  the  library  for  a  certain  time,  which  is  longer  or  shorter 


mriTED  STATES  AND  CANADA. 


235 


according  to  the  extent  of  the  injury  done  to  the  book.    All  inju- 
ries to  books  are  recorded  for  future  reference. 

In  all  our  state  prisons,  the  proportion  of  prisoners  who  take 
out  books  is  very  large  ;  indeed  the  general  if  not  the  universal 
rule  is,  that  all  draw  books  who  are  able  to  read.  We  were  anx- 
ious to  ascertain  whether  the  books  so  taken  out  are  really  read 
by  the  persons  receiving  them.  The  answers  to  our  inquiries  on 
this  point  were  unanimous  to  the  effect  that  such  was  undoubtedly 
the  fact  in  the  great  majority  of  cases.  On  calling  for  the  proofs 
of  this,  they  were  stated  to  be,  first,  the  appearance  of  the  books 
when  returned;  secondly,  observation  of  the  prisoners  in  their 
cells;  thirdly,  their  comments  on  the  books;  and  fourthly,  ques- 
tioning them  on  the  subject-matter  of  the  volumes  taken  out.  In 
reference  to  the  second  of  the  above  named  proofs,  the  Rev.  Mr. 
Ives,  of  Auburn,  remarked:  "In  passing  through  the  galleries,  I 
see  the  men  almost  all  engaged  in  reading.  I  have  often  been 
through  on  purpose  to  see  what  proportion  were  thus  engaged, 
and  have  found  ninety-seven  out  of  one  hundred.  In  the  shops  it 
is  the  same,  when  their  tasks  are  finished."  Wardens  and  chap- 
lains of  other  prisons  made  substantially  the  same  statement. 

Convicts  in  all  the  state  prisons  have  considerable  time  which 
they  can  devote  to  reading,  if  they  are  so  disposed.  Everywhere 
they  have  the  whole  of  Sunday,  after  deducting  the  portion  spent 
in  public  worship  and  the  Sabbath-school,  where  such  exists. 
Besides  this,  they  have  for  reading,  during  the  day  and  evening, 
on  an  average,  from  two  to  four  hours.  In  the  New  York  state 
prisons,  prisoners  are  allowed  to  take  their  library  books  to  the 
workshops,  and  read  in  them  after  thej'  have  finished  the  task  of 
the  day;  but  nowhere  else,  as  far  as  we  could  learn,  even  where 
task  work  is  in  vogue,  except  occasionally  by  special  permission. 

In  far  the  greater  number  of  state  prisons,  the  convicts  are  not 
allowed  to  take  or  read  secular  newspapers,  but  the  reverse  of 
this  is  true  as  regards  magazine's.  In  Wisconsin,  and  we  believe 
also  in  Missouri,  both  classes  of  publications  may  be  taken  by  the 
prisoners.     In  Maine,  Harpers'  Weekly  is  permitted. 

The  legislatures  of  many  of  the  states  make  a  fixed  annual  appro- 
priation for  the  increase  of  the  prison  libraries.  New  York 
appropriates  for  her  three  prisons,  $950;  Pennsylvania  for  her 
two,  $450;  Michigan,  $300;  Massachusetts,  $200;  Connecticut, 
$100;  New  Hampshire,  $50  to  $100;  Vermont,  $25.  The  legis- 
latures of  Ohio,  Wisconsin  and  other  states  appropriate  for  this 


280 


PRISONS  AND  REFORMATORIES  OF  THB 


purpose  only  on  application  by  the  prison  authorities,  nccompaniod 
ivith  a  statement  of  the  necessities,  and  the  amount  required  to 
meet  the  same. 

We  made  it  a  point  <*f  special  inquii-y  to  ascertain  the  opinions 
of  prison  officers,  both  wardens  and  chaplains,  as  to  the  utility  of 
libraries  in  prisons.      Witli   a  solitary   exception — that  of  Dr. 
Canipbell,   of  the    western  penitentiary.  Pa.,  who  regards  the 
library  as  •'  of  doubtful  influence" — we  found  a  perfect  agreement 
among  these  oftioers  in  thinking  a  prison  librar}*  a  most  important 
instrument  of  good.     With  singular  unanimity,  they  represent  it 
as  valuable  in  communicating  useful  knowledge  to  the  prisoners; 
in  elevating  their  minds;  in  beguiling  many  a  tedious  and  weary 
hour;  in  making  them  cheerful  and  contented;  in  affording  them 
good  material  for  reflection,  and  so  diverting  their  minds  from 
brooding  over  past  offences  and  meditating  schemes  of  future  mis- 
chief; in  affording  good  topics  of  conversation  with  them;  in  im- 
proving the  discipline  of  prison;  and  in  constituting  one  of  the 
best  and  most  effective  of  reformatory  agencies.     We  quite  agree, 
too,  with  Mr.  Hill,  in  thinking  it  important  that  a  prison  libraiy 
should  contain  many  books  whi  -h,  while  free  from  anything  im- 
moral or  irreligious,  are  both  interesting  and  entertaining.     This 
will  tend  to  create  a  taste  for  reading,  to  inspire  a  liking  for  other 
than  sensual  pleasures,  and  to  give  the  mind  cheerful  subjects  of 
thought,  in  addition  to  those  of  a  more  serious  cast.     A  due  mix- 
ture of  books  of  this  cheerful  type,  so  far  from  interfering  with 
reading  of  a  more  solid  and  even  religious  character,  adds  fresh 
zest  to  such  reading.     A  prisoner,  much  given  to  drinking,  and 
never  a  reader  prior  to  his  incarceration,  read  Robinson  Crusoe  in 
prison.     It  was  the  first  book  of  entertainment  he  had  ever  read, 
and  it  evidently  awakened  in  him  a  thirst  for  reading,  which,  ])y 
affording  him  pleasant  occupation  at  homo,  would  naturally  tend 
to  wean  him  from  his  habit  of  drinking.     This  prisoner  was  found, 
on  examination,  to  have  fully  appreciated  the  great  moral  of  tlio 
book,  viz.,  that,  under  whatever  circumstances  a  person  may  bo 
placed,  he  can,  by  effort  and  perseverance,  improve  his  condition. 
It  w!is  quite  manifest,  too,  that  his  reading  of  this  book  did  not  at 
all  interfere  with  his  reading  of  th    Bible;  and  his  chaplain  de- 
clared himself  highly  satisfied  with  his  answers  on  the  part  of  the 
Bible  read  by  him  during  the  Aveek  he  was  reading  Robinson 
■(  usoe. 

It  would  be  a  good  plan  to  examine  prisoners  on  the  subject- 


UNITED  STATES  AND   CANADA. 


237 


matter  of  the  books  which  they  read.  If  a  prisoner,  on  receiving 
u  hook,  wore  told  that  in  due  time  ho  would  be  questioned 
respecting  its  contents,  and  required  to  g'  his  views  of  their 
character  and  merits,  this  notification  would  make  him  more  care- 
fill  in  its  perusal;  would  afford  a  useful  exercise  for  his  intellect 
and  memory;  would  offer  good  topics  for  conversation  with  him; 
would  help  him  to  derive  from  books  all  the  benefits  they  are 
cupuble  of  yielding;  would  lead  to  the  selection  of  books  by  dif- 
ferent  prisoners  better  adapted  to  their  respective  mental  develop- 
ment; and  would  qualify  him  by  degrees  better  to  understand 
their  subjects  and  to  appreciate  both  their  merits  and  their  de- 
merits. We  would  not,  however,  have  this  plan  forced  upon  con- 
victs against  their  will,  as  in  that  case  reading  might  become  a 
task  instead  of  an  amusement,  and,  us  a  consequence,  be  less  pur- 
sued than  it  is  now.  But  with  the  prisoner's  hearty  assent,  we 
are  persuaded  that  the  plan  would  be  highly  to  his  advantage. 

It  will  have  been  observed  that  in  none  of  the  state  prisons 
visited  by  us,  except  so  far  as  secular  instruction  is  imparted  iu 
Sabbath  schools,  are  the  prisoners  taught  in  classes,  save  only  in 
those  of  Ohio  and  northern  Indiana.  Everywhere  else,  lessons  are 
given  either  in  the  cell  or  at  the  cell  door,  mostly  by  the  chaplains, 
but  in  New  York  by  special  teachers,  of  whom  there  are  employed 
some  eight  or  ten.  This  method  of  instruction  in  the  separate 
cells  is  liable  to  very  serious  objections.  Either  instruction  must 
be  imparted  to  a  most  limited  extent,  or,  iu  prisons  conducted  on 
the  Auburn  plan,  where  lessons  can  be  given  only  at  night,  teachers 
must  be  multiplied  so  that  there  shall  be  one  to  every  half  dozen 
convicts.  Now,  even  those  who  are  most  sceptical  on  the  subject 
of  penitentiary  reformation,  still  agree  that  every  opportunity 
should  be  given  for  improvement,  and  every  facility  afforded  for 
ameudmcut;  and  that,  at  least,  a  foundation  should  bo  laid  for 
moral  knowledge  by  imparting  the  elements  of  literary  education 
lo  those  who  are  ignoran*^ ;  of  whom,  as  we  have  seen,  the  number 
confined  in  our  prisons  is  always  considerable.  We,  indeed,  go 
much  farther  than  this.  We  think  that  a  penal  establishment — 
certainly  in  the  later  stages  of  imprisonment — should  be,  as  it 
were,  one  vast  school,  in  which  almost  everything  is  made  subser- 
vient to  instruction  in  some  form  or  other — mental,  moral,  religious 
or  industrial.  Of  course,  we  would  have  school  rooms  fitted  up 
and  classes  formed,  into  which  should  be  gathered  numbers  of 
those  in  similar  stages  of  advancement.    In  addition  to  which,  wo 


288 


PRISONS  AND  REFORMATORIES  OF  TRI 


'would  have  libraricn,  lectures,  oompotilivo  examinations,  am)  ny\\r, 
museums,  and  every  other  needful  appliance  liberally  providoii, 
calculated  to  excite,  and,  in  a  greater  or  less  degree,  to  gratify  ti., 
rational  curiosity  of  each.  In  this  conviction  we  are  fortiHo<1  by 
the  opinion  of  Mr.  F.  U.  Hanborn,  the  intelligent  secretary  of  the 
Miissuchusetts  Board  of  State  Charities,  who,  in  his  evidence 
before  the  conimldsion  of  18()(),  snid  :  "  I  doubt  if  the  instructiuu 
of  prisoners  has  ever  been  curried  far  enough  anywhere  ;  even  in 
Ireland,  it  would  bo  possible  to  improve  it.  I  would  have  all 
convicts  taught  something,  and  put  in  the  way  of  teaching  them- 
selves. As  u  class,  they  are  wretchedly  ignorant,  and  have  sinned 
through  some  form  of  ignorance,  conjoined  with  vice.  To  edutiatc 
them  is  the  plain  duty  of  the  state  ;  and,  when  seriously  under- 
taken, their  education  would  show  important  results.  A  portion 
of  each  day,  as  well  as  the  evem'ng,  should  be  given  to  this  duty; 
and  those  not  compelled  to  labor  should  be  stimulated  to  sonic 
mental  occupation,  as  a  defence  against  bud  habits  and  evil 
thoughts." 

The  better  educated  and  better  behaved  prisoners  might,  with 
propriety  and  advantage,  be  employed  to  assist  the  schoolmaster 
in  the  instruction  of  his  classes.  We  have  seen  that  this  service 
is  very  acceptably  performed  in  the  secular  schools  of  the  pro- 
vincial penitentiary  of  Canada  and  the  state  prison  of  Ohio,  and 
also  in  quite  a  number  of  prison  Sabbath-schools.  Not  only,  As 
suggested  by  Mr.  Hill,  might  the  prison  funds  be  economized  by 
making  use  of  assistance  of  this  kind,  but  much  good  might  often 
be  done  to  the  prisoners  who  gave  it,  since  it  would  bring  into 
action  one  of  the  most  improving  tendencies,  that  arising  from  the 
consciousness  of  being  useful  to  others.  It  would,  of  course,  be 
necessary  to  use  care  in  the  selection  of  prisoners  t9  be  so 
employed  ;  but  with  intelligent  superintendence,  there  would  bo 
little,  if  any,  difficulty  in  that  respect. 

We  are  sorry  to  be  obliged  to  report  that  in  many  state  prisons, 
our  own  among  the  number,  very  inadequate  provison  is  made  for 
the  prisoners'  reading  at  nip:ht.  In  England,  there  is  a  gas 
burner  in  every  cell;  in  America,  such  an  arrangement,  Ave  be- 
lieve, is  quite  unknoAvn.  Lights,  whether  from  gas  or  oil,  are 
placed  in  the  comdors,  and  very  often  at  such  a  distance  from 
each  other  that  scarcely  one  prisoner  in  ten  can  see  to  read.  For 
about  five  months  in  the  year,  the  convicts  are  locked  in  their  cells 
from  thii-teen  to  fifteeu  hours  a  day.    There  arc  prisons — we  wish 


UNITED  STATES  AND  CANADA. 


289 


the  number  were  less — in  which,  during  all  those  long  and  dreary 
hours,  only  those  few  prisoneiti  whose  colls  happen  to  bo  near  the 
lights,  can  make  any  Ui9(^  of  their  books;  all  the  rest  being  con> 
tlcnniod  to  intellectual  starvation,  with  ample  stores  at  hand,  as 
Tuiitulus  was  to  eternal  thirst,  with  the  water  reaching  to  his  chin. 
Thus  is  left  to  the  darkness  of  his  coll  and  the  deeper,  sadder 
durkncss  of  an  ignorant,  benighted  mind,  many  a  young  man, 
who,  if  opportunity  were  uflforded  him  of  acquiring  useful 
knowledge,  might,  despite  his  fall  and  its  forlorn  consequences, 
lie  awakened  to  hope,  to  cheerfulness,  to  virtue.  More  than  once 
hav(5  we  heard  bitter  lamentations  hy  convicts  over  their  inability, 
from  want  of  light,  to  occupy  themselves  in  reading,  while  locked 
in  Iheir  colls  during  the  long  winter  evenings.  We  look  upon 
such  deprivation  as  a  hardship  and  a  wrong;  and  wo  have  known 
it  to  be,  in  many  ways,  most  hurtful  in  its  consequences.  Wo 
think  it  no  more  than  right — and  certainly  it  would  be  good 
policy — that  prisoners  should  have  at  least  two  hours  of  light  for 
reading  every  night  during  the  winter  months.  Such  opportunity, 
added  to  the  other  means  of  enlightenment  recommended  in  this 
section,  would  go  a  long  way  towards  the  solution  of  the  problem 
proposed  by  the  wretched  prisoner  mentioned  in  its  opening  seu- 
tenccs,  "  Where  shall  I  get  better  thoughts?" 


SECTION  EIGHTH. 
Physical  and  Hygienic  Relations. 
Ill  general,  the  ventilation  of  American  state  prisons  is  very 
imperfect;  and  the  same  is  true  of  the  provincial  penitentiary  9f 
Canada.  On  entering  them,  one  is  met  by  an  odor  made  up  of 
animal  secretions,  damp  walls,  pent-up  dormitories  and  musty 
clothing.  Yet,  with  the  exception  of  a  few  in  the  more  newly 
settled  states,  our  prisons,  for  the  most  part,  appear  to  be  ktrpt 
thoroughly  clean,  and  well  whitewashed.  Whence,  then,  this 
disagreeable  odor?  It  can  come  only  from  the  want  of  adequate 
ventilation.  Many  of  the  prisons,  probably  the  most  of  them, 
have  ventilating  flues  in  the  walls  of  the  cells,  but  there  is  no  heat 
ill  them  to  create  a  current,  and  on  trial  with  a  lighted  match, 
while,  in  some,  the  flame  was  slightly  drawn  into  the  opening,  in 
others  there  was  no  draft  at  all.  The  best  ventilation  we  found 
was  in  the  Massachusetts  state  prison  and  the  Albany  peiii- 
tcutiary. 


240 


PBIBONS  AND   BEFOBMATORICS  OF   THE 


The  prisons  are  va/iously  heated  with  steam,  coal  stoves,  and 
wood  stoves.  Steam,  where  used,  is  found  the  most  economical, 
and  the  warmth  created  by  it  is  much  more  evenly  difiused.  The 
degree  of  heat  introduced  cannot,  for  the  most  part,  be  accurately 
measured,  as  few,  if  any  of  the  prisons  are  provided  with  ther- 
mometers, an  instrument  which  ought  to  be  found  in  all.  Gene- 
rally the  officers  claim  that  the  cell  houses  are  kept  comfortably 
warm  even  in  the  coldest  weather;  while  some  admit  that  this 
cannot  be  eflTected  with  their  existing  apparatus  for  the  purpose. 

In  a  considerable  proportion  of  the  state  prisons,  a  sufficient 
amount  of  sunlight  is  admitted  to  enable  all  the  prisoners  to  read 
with  ease  and  comfort;  but  in  many  this  is  not  the  case.  In  some, 
none  can  well  sec  to  read,  especially  in  books  with  fine  print,  in 
a  very  cloudy  day;  in  others,  only  those  M'hose  cells  happen  to 
be  directly  opposite  the  windows. 

At  night,  the  major  part  of  the  prisons  are  lighted  by  gas  in 
the  corridors;  the  others  by  kerosene  lamps.  In  none  of  cur 
prisons  are  the  cells  provided  with  burners,  as  is  almost,  if  not 
quite,  universally  the  case  in  New  England.  In  Maine,  Wiscon- 
sin, and  Pennsylvania,  each  prisoner  is  provided  with  a  lamp  in 
his  cell;  in  Michigan,  with  a  candle.  The  time  of  extinguishing 
the  lights  in  different  institutions,  varies  from  seven  and  a  half  to 
nine.  We  have  already  stated  that,  while  in  some  prisons  there 
are  burners  enough  to  enable  all  to  read  without  straining  the 
eyes,  jot  in  not  a  few  there  is  such  a  deficiency  of  light  that  much 
the  larger  portion  are  denied  this  privilege;  a  policy  as  contrary 
to  wisdom  as  it  is  to  humanity,  since  long  confinement  iii  darkness 
is  injurious  to  the  physical,  mental,  and  moral  interests  of  the  con- 
vict, weakening  the  intellect,  inducing  mental  indolence,  blunting 
the  moral  sensibilities,  exciting  the  passions,  quickening  and  feed- 
ing a  licentious  imagination,  and,  in  a  word,  debasing  and  brutify- 
ing  the  man. 

In  regard  to  the  rations  of  the  convict  prisons  of  the  United 
States  and  Canada,  our  general  remark  is,  that  they  arc  a-'Viiuunt 
and  good;  if  anything,  too  much  so  for  pcrscms  convicted  of  crime, 
and  undergoing  the  penalty  of  their  transgressions.  We  think 
there  is  not  one,  in  which  there  is  any  weighing  or  measuring  of 
the  food  supplied;  all  have  as  much  as  they  want,  be  the  same 
less  or  more.  We  subjoin  the  dietaries  of  a  few,  both  to  c(nilirm 
our  statement,  and  to  serve  as  a  specimen  of  the  Avhole. 

Maine. — The  warden,  ia  his  comaunication  1 )  us,  says:  "  The 


UNITED    STATES    AND    CANADA. 


24t 


prisoners  have  to  eat — plenty  of  nice  fish,  brown  and  white  bread, 
and  coffee  for  breakfast;  for  dinner,  two  or  more  of  these  dishes 
on  different  days — baked  beans  and  pork,  corned  l)eef,  potatoes, 
stewed  peas,  und  (once  a  w'eek)  fresh  beef  soup;  for  suppfr^ 
wheat,  brown  and  hard  bread,  with  coffee." 

Massachusetts. — For  breakfast,  meat  hash  and  fish  hash  on  alter- 
nate days,  with  brown  bread  and  coffee  ;  for  dinner,  baked  beans 
and  pork  on  Sunday  and  Fridaj',  corned  ])eef  and  potatoes  Monday, 
beef  soup  with  the  meat  in  it  Tuesday  and  Saturday,  stewed  peas 
and  pork  Wednesday,  and  fish  chowder,  with  white  bread  on 
Sunday,  and  brown  bread  all  the  other  days  ;  for  supper,  mush 
and  molasses  with  coffee  on  Tuesday,  and  white  bread  and  coffee 
all  the  other  days. 

Wisconsin. — For  breakfast,  beef  and  potatoes  five  days,  and  beef 
hash  two  days,  with  white  bread  and  coffee  every  day  ;  for  dinner, 
beef  soup  with  rice  Sunday  and  Thursday,  beef  and  potatoes 
Monday,  vegetable  soup  and  beef  Tuesday,  baked  beans  and  pork 
Wednesday,  codfish  and  mashed  potatoes  Friday,  corned  beef  and 
potatoes  Saturday,  with  white  bread  every  day ;  for  supper,  gin- 
<;er  bread  and  molasses  Sunday,  white  bread  and  butter  Monday, 
Tuesday,  Thursday  and  Friday,  brown  bread  and  molasses  Wednes- 
day, and  mush  and  molasses  Saturday. 

Eastern  Penitentiary,  Pa. — For  breakfast,  bread  and  coffee 
throughout  the  week  ;  for  dinner,  beef  (always  fresh)  three  days, 
mutton  three  days,  and  salt  or  smoked  pork  one  day,  with  soup 
made  from  the  meat  as  a  uniform  accompaniment,  to  which  vegeta- 
bles, with  rice  or  barley  are  added.  Potatoes,  beans,  honiiny, 
and  cabbage  are  the  standard  vegetables,  but  lettuce,  onions,  and 
tomatoes  are  furnished  in  their  season,  fresh  from  the  prison 
grounds.  We  have  no  memorandum  of  the  erening  meal,  but 
l)clicve  it  to  be  usually,  if  not  invariably,  mush  and  molasses. 

Okio. — The  warden  roports  :  "The  prisoners'  fare  is — bread 
(corn  meal  and  wheat  flour  mixed),  fresh  beef  and  salt  pork  (idter- 
)uitely),  potatoes,  beans,  calihages,  ouions,  vegetable  soup  (tnree 
limes  a  week),  and  butter  (twice  a  week)." 

New  YorJc. — -The  following  is  the  dietary  at  Sing  Sing  :  Break- 
liJ«t  is  uniform  tliroughout  the  week,  consisting  of  beef  hash,  bread, 
and  lollee.  Su})p(u-  is  also  uniform,  and  consists  of  either  nuish 
md  niohisses,  or  bread  and  mohisses,  at  the  option  of  the  prisoner. 
Bread  is  made  iVesli  every  day  of  the  eonunon  grades  of  wheat  flour 

[AoMcm.  i\o.  35, J  16 


t  -  if! 
1. 


242 


PRISONS  AND   REFORMATORIES   OP    THE 


If 


and  corn  meal  combined.  It  is  furnished  without  stint  at  every 
meal.  The  dinner  ration  varies  from  day  to  day.  Monday — 
corned  beef  and  beans  or  pciis,  usually  made  into  soup.  Vinegar, 
salt  and  pepper  are  supplied  dail}^  so  that  each  can  season  his  food 
to  his  own  liking.  Tuesday- — corned  beef  and  boiled  potatoes. 
Wednesday — fresh  beef  boiled,  and  soup  made  of  the  liquor,  in 
which  arc  boiled  turnips,  carrots,  onions,  rice  and  a  little  flour, 
making,  when  properly  sejisoned,  a  savory  and  palatable  di^h. 
Occasionally,  instead  of  soup,  a  stew  is  given,  made  of  pork,  fVesii 
beef,  potatoes  and  onions,  which  is  nuich  relished.  Thursday — 
corned  beef  and  cal)bage  or  beets,  with  potatoes.  Friday — salt 
fish,  with  boiled  potatoes.  Corn  bread  is  often  given  on  Friday, 
and  sometimes  warm  from  the  oven.  Saturday — same  as  Wednes- 
day. Sunday — pork  and  potatoes,  with  white  bread  made  in  a 
better  quality  of  flour,  and  occasionally  pickles.  For  prison  beef, 
it  is  quite  usual  to  purchase  only  the  rougher  and  cheaper  parts 
of  the  animal ;  in  Sing  Sing,  on  the  contrary,  the  entire  carcass  is 
bought  and  used  for  convicts'  rations. 

In  all  the  K^cw  England  state  jirisons,  and  in  those  of  Pennsyl- 
vania, as  a  matter  of  course,  convicts  take  their  meals  in  the  cells. 
Almost  eveiywhere  else,  they  eat  together;  in  Wisconsin,  all 
meals  are  taken  in  the  cells,  not  because  any  preference  is  felt  for 
that  mode,  but  simply  for  the  Avant  of  a  common  dining  hall.  As 
a  o-eneral  thiuir,  fi  stronc:  preferi-ncc  is  felt  for  the  method  in  actual 
use.  jNIr.  Haynes,  of  Massachusetts,  says:  "The  plan  of  taking 
the  meals  in  the  cells  is  here  considered  preferable,  for  the  reason 
that  it  allows  the  jjrisoners  .toirest  and  read,  and  also ;becausc  it 
afl'ords  the  oth'cers  an  opportunity  to  eat  their  meals  at  the  same 
time.''  On  the  other  hand,  Mr.  rrenticc,  of  Ohio,  states  his  opin- 
ion in  these  words:  "The  mode  of  giving  the  meals  in  a  large  hall 
is  preferred,  as  it  is  intinitely  less  trouble." 

There  are  two  methods  of  [);ocuring  supplies:  one  by  contracts 
running  for  a  greater  or  less  period  (commonly  a  year),  the  othoi 
at  the  discretion  of  the  warden.  The  first  of  these  methods  was 
most  prevalent  formerly,  the  latter  is  most  common  now,  and,  in 
our  o[)inion.  the  better  has  superseded  the  worse.  Contracts  for 
furnishing  provisicms,  as  a  matter  of  course,  are  given  to  the  low- 
e.st  bidder;  ami.  ecpially  as  a  matter  of  course,  the  cheapest  arliolc 
is  su|)[)lied  which  the  terms  of  the  contract  will  permit.  Be.Nidcs 
under  the  sysiem  of  .supplies  by  contract,  the  ration  is  fixed  by  an 
ijiflcxible   rule;  whereas,  when  provisions  are  purchased  in  open 


UNITED   STATES   AND    CANADA. 


243 


market,  it  can  be  varictl  as  considerations  of  health  and  discipline 
may  require.  But  let  us  hear  what  the  advocates  of  each  system 
have  to  say  in  its  favor.  Mr.  Cordicr,  of  Wisconsin,  says:  "I  do 
not  believe  in  the  contract  system.  As  soon  as  a  contract  (say  for 
tlour  or  beef)  is  let — and  contracts  of  that  kind  generally  run  for 
a  year — the  contractor  tries  to  make  just  as  much  out  of  it  as  he 
can,  and  therefore  needs  constant  Avatching — a  very  unpleasant 
business.  Aside  from  this,  opportunities  arc  constantly  arising 
for  purchasing  tilings  at  cheaper  rates  than  those  specilied  in  the 
contract."  Per  contra,  Mr.  Seaton",  of  Michigan,  gives  bis  view 
thus:  "Most  supplies  are  procured  by  eontract — contract  lasting 
one  vear.  This  svstem  is  thought  best,  for  the  reason  that  the 
supplies  can  lie  procured  just  as  good,  just  as  chrap,  and  with  far 
'  less  trouble."  On  the  last  point,  all  nuist  agree  with  Mr.  Seaton; 
but,  much  as  avc  commonly  respect  his  judgment,  we  dissent  from 
it  on  the  other  two.  We  think  that  supplies,  :is  good  in  cpiality 
would  be  dearer;  and  that,  if  as  eheap  in  price,  they  would  be  of 
an  inferior  grade. 

Not  only  is  a  suita])le  prison  dietary  necessary  to  the  health  of 
the  convicts,  but  its  moral  effect  is  also  good.  On  this  point  there 
is  entire  unaninn'ty  in  the  testimony  of  prison  oifieers.  This  intiu- 
ence  shows  itself  in  the  lietter  health  of  th«  priflKniers.  in  th.  gen- 
eral improvement  of  their  temper,  in  the  greaiter  cheerfulm'ss 
with  which  they  Avork,  in  the  increased  amount  (jf  work  done,  in 
the  diminution  of  complaints  and  punishments,  !>,nd  in  th^r  aug- 
mented power  of  reformatory  asjencies  over  them. 

The  clothing  furnished  to  convicts  in  our  American  stistn  prisons, 
though  coarse,  is  ufcnerallv  substantial  and  comfortable.  'Ijc  fab 
ric  used  is  composed  Avholly  or  chiefly  of  avooI,  and  tlie  su'f  i.--;.  lor 
the  most  part,  the  same  in  summer  as  in  winter,  except  that  the 
under-clothing  is  less.  It  is  quite  connuon  to  sripply  woolen 
drawers  and  undershirts  during  the  winter,  Avhich  are  left  c^'  in 
sununer.  In  the  provincial  penitentiary  the  summer  suit  is  of 
cotton,  and  in  the  state  penitentiar}'  of  Kentucky,  of  a  light  woolen 
fabric.  In  most  of  the  prisons,  the  convicts  interchange  their 
clothing  when  it  is  washed,  so  that  no  one  is  sure  of  reeeivin*;  I)aek 
from  the  wasli  the  suit  fhat  he  put  in.  In  the  Massachusetts  pri- 
son, a  dill'ereut  and  far  preferal)le  usage  prevail-^.  All  the  clothes 
worn  by  convicts  are  marked  with  I  heir  own  names  in  fidl,  even 
to  their  towels,  sheets  and  pillow-eases.  There  is  wisdom  as  well 
iiji  kindness  in  this  arrangement.     It  fosters  in  the  prisoners  a  feel- 


1^ 


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t  -I 


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244 


PRISONS   AND   REFORMATORIES  OF    THE 


r 


ing  of  self-respect,  moves  them  to  take  better  cave  of  their  clothes, 
ami  strengthens  the  sentiment  of  personal  responsibility.  Every 
convict  here  is  furnished  with  a  pocket  comb. 

In  all  our  state  prisons,  convicts,  on  their  liberation,  are  pi-o- 
vitled  with  a  suit  of  citizen's  clothing;  in  some  cases  an  extra  shirt 
being  supplied,  and  in  others,  as  in  Wisconsin,  a  flannel  under- 
shirt and  drawers,  if  the  discharge  takes  place  in  winter.  Each 
female  convict  in  Sing  Sing  prison  is  provided,  on  her  release, 
with  the  following  outfit:  Two  dresses  (one  delaine  and  one  calico); 
two  skirts  (one  quilted  and  one  muslin);  two  pairs  of  drawers; 
■four  chemises;  two  pair  cotton  hose;  one  pair  calfskin  shoes;  cue 
pocket  handkercliief ;  a  straw  hat  trimmed  with  ribbon,  and  a 
shawl,  suited  to  the  season  of  the  year. 

Iron  l)edsteads  are  provided  in  all  the  New  England  prisons, 
and  in,  perhaps,  the  major  part  of  the  others  visited  and  inspected 
by  us;  although  in  quite  a  number  the  old  wooden  bunks  are  still 
in  use,  and  among  them,  we  are  sorry  to  say,  our  own  great  prison 
of  Sini;  Sinjr,  the  largest  on  the  American  continent. 

Stra^v  beds  are  in  universal  use,  except  in  the  Massachusett 
prison,  Avhere  mattresses,  made  of  (iirl*  I  j)alni-leaf,  are  useO, 
They  are  much  .superior  to  those  made  of  straw,  and,  in  the  long 
run.  cheaper.  A  bed  of  thi.s  sort,  it  is  said,  will  last  seven  yoar.>?. 
at  the  end  of  which  time  the  material  in  two  old  ones  will  make  ii 
third  one  as  good  as  ne 

Sheets  and  pillow-cases  are  provided  in  the  majority  of  Ameri- 
can prisons;  they  should  be  in  ail,  on  considerations  o^cleanli  m  .--. 
health,  comfort,  and  even  econoni}'. 

Bed-clothes — blankets,  «,'oinfortax<*lcs  and  (juilts^ — apj)*»3r  to  be 
everywhere  supplied  in  sufF<ient  quantity;  or  if  there  Ik;  occa- 
.sionally  some  lack  in  this  dei>ai'tment,  .such  ease.*  are  quite  exccp- 
tioniil. 

Th«  condition  of  llw'  prisuu  l>eds,  as  a^ueral  thing,  is  luade  a 
iB*tterof  diiil}' iiwpection. 

A>  regard.^  airii^jr  the  ImkIs — a  most  necessary  pi-ocess  hmtk  for 
ciMUiikneHS  ai»d  l>^stith — tlwM"e  is  a  great  diversity  in  point  of  fre- 
^eri-py.  In  Now  Hanijiwhire,  we  were  informed,  this  is  done 
#f>*'ry  day;  while  in  .som<  prisons,  it  appeals  never  to  be  done  at 
all.  In  Kentucky  and  Wi<'""-)M,  it  is  done  monthly;  in  ^Ia.ssa- 
cbiMfftts,   at  no   ret^iU'la^'  *i  .s,  but  frequently;  in  Michigan. 

*' not  often: ''  in  Vermont,  "  when  ueces«arj;  "  iu  Ohio,  "no  spe- 
cial rule." 


UNITED   STATES    AND   CANADA. 


246 


Few  prisons  arc  free  from  vermin.  The  warden  of  the  Maine 
prison  reports  that  they  are  never  found  in  the  cells  there,  and 
the  commissioner  of  the  Wisconsin  prison,  that  in  half  the  cells 
in  that  institution  they  arc  not  found  at  all.  Nowhere  else  Avas 
any  such  statement  made  to  us  on  this  sul)ject.  The  most  common 
report  was  that  they  were  sometimes  troublesome;  but  it  was 
not  uncommon  to  be  told  that  they  were  in  "great  abundance," 
or  that  there  was  "  any  quantity"  of  them.  Oh  the  question  how 
to  get  rid  of  them,  various  opinions  Avere  expressed.  Several 
wardens  gave  judgment  in  favor  of  cleanliness  and  care,  combined 
Avith  perseverance,  as  the  best  remedial  agents;  no  doubt  an  excel- 
lent prescription.  One  said,  coal  oil;  another,  kerosene  oil  and 
whitewash;  a  thiid.  corrosive  sublimate  and  alcohol:  and  one,  in 
blank  despair  of  any  etlectual  remedy,  exclaimed:  "I  wish  some 
wise  man  would  tell  us  how  to  get  rid  of  them." 

Water  is  abundantly  supplied  to  most  state  prisons — to  those 
of  Charlestown,  Sing  Sing,  Philadelphia,  and  perhaps  some 
others,  from  city  water- works;  to  that  of  Michigan,  from  an 
artesian  well;  to  the  greater  part,  from  ordinary  wells  and 
cisterns. 

The  moral  influence  of  a  habit  of  personal  cleanliness  is  neither 
flight  nor  unimportant.  It  has  been  said,  and  there  is  truth  in 
the  saying,  that  clean  rogues  are  about  as  plenty  as  white  l)Iaek- 
liorries.  We  Avere,  therefore,  glad  to  be  informeil  that,  in  nearly 
nil  the  prisons  visited,  the  prisoners  are  required  to  Avash  their 
hands  and  faces  three  times  a  day,  although  in  one  or  two,  this 
ro(|uisition  stops  at  a  single  ablution.  We  AA'ere  no  less  pleased 
to  learn  that  in  very  many  prisons  ample  means  arc  provided  for 
bathing  the  Avholo  person,  and  that  this  is  exacted  of  prisoners 
monthly,  fortnightly,  or  Aveekly,  though  not  in  all  cases  diirinf 
the  Avinter.  In  the  Michigan  state  prison,  it  Avas  stated  to  us  by 
the  late  Avarden,  Mr.  Seaton,  that  the  convicts  are  lequired  to 
Avash  the  entire  body  every  morning  in  a  trough  proA'ided  for  the 
purpose.  Every  token  of  improvement  in  the  direction  of  perso- 
nal cleanliness  must  be  hailed  Avith  gratulation  by  the  friends  of 
prison  reform.  It  is  important,  moreover,  that  the  means  of 
bathing  should  be  available  in  Avintcr  as  avcH  as  in  summer.  It 
is  admitted  that  the  bath  is  not  so  absolutely  necessary  in  cold  as 
in  hot,  Aveather;  yet  it  is,  at  all  times,  refreshing,  invigoratinjj, 
healthful.  Many  of  the  employments  in  prisons  arc  of  such  a 
nature  that  the  frequent  use  of  the  l)ath  is  demanded  as  Avell  to 


si 


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24G 


PRISONS   AND   REFORMATORIES   OF   THE 


Ml 

i 

|l 

insuro  sclf-rcspcct  as  to  promote  licnlth;  I'or  avIio  so  degradod  ^m 
not  to  fool  u  (loopor  degradation  from  personal  niieleanliness? 

The  tlesli  brush,  as  far  as  we  could  learn,  has  never  been  intro- 
duced into  any  of  our  prisons.  This  is  to  1)o  regretted.  Long 
experience  has  shown  that  few  things  contribute  more  to  hcidlli 
than  the  free  use  of  the  brush  upon  the  skin,  in  combination  with 
a  liberal  supply  of  Avater  and  soap  ;  and  even  w-ithont  tliesc 
adjuncts,  it  is  still  useful.  Nothing  is  moi-e  restorative,  after  a 
day's  dirty  labor,  than  a  good  hard  brushing.  Cool  water  will 
prodnco  a  feeling  of  rcfreshtiienl ;  but  watei',  moderately  warin. 
■with  soaj)  and  the  brush,  or  even  a  rough  towel,  really  redovi's. 

lii  most  prisons,  the  underclothing  of  the  convicts  is  washed 
■weekly  ;  twice  a  w  oek  would  not  be  too  much  ;  but  in  Kentucky, 
]\j[;iii.'j  and  Ohio,  even  the  shirts  arc  washed  but  once  in  two  weeks  ; 
{iv.«l  in  NcAV  Hampshire  only  after  a  lapse  of  three  weeks!  The 
oi:'  giirments  arcAvashed  U-ss  frequently.  Many  convicts  are 
«  mployed  on  work  which  soils  very  quickly  ;  and,  on  looking  at 
iic  j^arments  Avorn  by  then),  Ave  could  not  resist  the  impres-ioh 
1  ;'  more  frequent  contact  Avith  the  soap  and  other  appliances 
<»'ti)c  washtui*  would  be  every  way  desiral)le. 

The  sheets  and  pilloAV  cases  are  Avashed  Aveekly  in  the  prisons 
of  Massachusetts  and  Michigan:  but  in  other  prisons  Avhcre  tlicv 
are  used,  not  ofteiier  than  once  i.i  fwo  weeks,  and  in  New  Ilanq)- 
shii-e  only  eviMy  third  week.  The  I)lankets  and  comf()rtal)les. 
Avhieh  must  (piickly  become  safin-ated  with  the  elHuvium  of  luinuni 
bodies  heated  l»y  work  (especially  when,  as  is  otten  the  .ase,  they 
come  into  dirfet  contact  thercAviti)).  were,  mo'  fre<]Uently  than 
We  eould  havi'  <lesired.  reported  to  us  as  1)oing  Avashed  "as  oflen 
:Lri  re<iuir«(L"  We  ha\>'  no  gauge  to  measure  the  diversity  of 
judgment  *-Jiich  no  doubt  exist»a«  to  the  }^roper  length  of  periods 
of  tim«'  to    M'  rovered  l»y  that  expression. 

With  few  exeei)tions,  chiefly  in  the  western  states,  the  prisons 
under  our  insjxM'fioii  exhibh'ed  s  remarkable  degree  of  nentnes?. 
In  many,  it  would  !><■  ditMciit  to  lind  a  spo 'k  of  dirt  on  the  iloois 
of  the  corridors  or  cells,  or  :i  S(»iied  spot  U))on  the  wallsor  ceilings. 
The  whitewasJi  brush  knows  little  n'Uiission  of  its  toils,  except 
during  tl*e  hours  of  eating  and  sleeping,  but  exercises  its  puritying 
and  heaitlifui  imluences  constantly  and  thoroughly.  Floors  ui'<| 
.■*ta.irs  are  .swept  daily,  and.  in  addition,  nndergo  fre<iuent  m  riili- 
l)ings. 

In  the  Mnssacluisetts  state  prison,  the  men  are  shaved  twice  u 


UNITED  STATES  AND  CANADA. 


247 


Avoi'k;  in  Jill  others  of  tlic  congregate  ortlcr,  Aveekly.  In  Maine 
iiiul  Wisconsin,  this  is  done  by  each  man  lor  himself;  elsewhere 
1)V  convict  barbers,  avIio  go  round  to  the  dilToreut  work  shops  for 
I  he  purpose.  Hair-cutting  is  dojio  in  the  same  Avay  ;  in  some  pri- 
sons, Iti-inonthly,  in  others  quarterly. 

In  all  the  state  prisons,  except  those  of  Pennsylvania,  night  tubs 
lor  the  cells  arc  in  use,  which  are  emptied  and  cleansed  daily. 
Tluy  are  invariably  made  of  wood, — pine,  oak,  or  red  cedar.  For 
iiieeting  the  calls  of  nature  during  the  day,  therd  arc  water-closets 
in  all  the  workshops  ;  and  some  are  also  provided  on  other  parts 
of  (lie  premises. 

The  iliseases  most  prevalent  in  American  prisoners  are  rheuma- 
ti.'^in  and  those  connected  with  the  lungs,  the  bowels,  the  skin,  and 
the  digestive  organs. 

As  regards  the  comparative  readiness  Avith  which  disease  yields 
to  medical  treatment  in  convicts  long  in  prison  and  those  but 
recently  imprisoned,  the  preponderance  of  testimony  was  in  favor 
of  the  latter  class;  some  stated  that  no  dilference  had  been  ob- 
served;  but  the  warden  of  the  Wisconsin  state  prison  observed 
that,  as  a  general  thing,  the  jirisoners  who  had  been  contined  for 
;i  number  of  years  are  in  better  liealth  than  those  recently  com- 
mitted. 

Of  the  numerous  trades  pur-3ued  in  our  prisons,  none  in  particu- 
lar seem  to  be  more  prejudicial  to  health  than  others,  except  cer- 
tain departments  of  hemp  manufacture,  stone  cutting  and  polish- 
iiii:'  steel  and  iron  on  emory  Avheels,  grind-stones,  or  sand  ])aper, 
as  the  men  are  thereby  exposed  to  inhale  particles  of  vegetable  or 
luclallic  substances  injurious  to  the  lungs. 

'J'he  daily  percentage  of  prisoners  in  hospital  varies  from  one, 
as  in  Maine  and  Massachusetts,  to  fifteen  and  a  half,  as  in  Ohio; 
and  the  percentage  of  persons  for  whom  daily  prescriptions  are 
made,  varies  from  one  and  a  half,  in  Maine,  to  ol^,  in  Oiuo. 

The  diseases  most  frequently  simulated  are  insanity,  rheumatism, 
(liarrha>a,  cholic  and  headache.  Feigned  insanity  is  detected 
only  by  close  and  careful  ol)servations;  the  other  complaints  by 
various  tests.  Mr.  Cordier,  of  Wisconsin,  says:  "  We  have  two 
classes  of  convicts:  one  class  works  well  ami  diligently,  the  other 
'^hirks  Avork.  If  a  convict  of  the  tirst  class  c()uq)lains,  avc  take  his 
Mord  for  it,  and  he  is  treated  accordingly.  If  a  convict  of  the 
other  class  complains  of  headache  or  rheuniatisui,  avc  consider  him 
for  the  time  being  as  a  sick  man,  and  give  him  the  food  of  a  sick 


MB 

r  h 

mM 

.1 

I' 


248 


PRISONS   AND   REFORMATORIES  OP    THE 


nmii.  Thc.'C  short  rations  cure  him  in  a  wonderfully  Iwief  space 
of  time.     IJo  is  not  apt  to  ooniphiin  a  second  time." 

The  diet  prescribed  hy  th(!  piiysician  i.s  everywhere  given  to  tiu- 
sick;  and  f'»r  the  veiy  sick  such  delicacies  are  for  the  most  part 
provided  as  are  usually  giveii  outside. 

A  few  insane  prisoners  arc  received  Into  most  of  the  state 
priscns,  and  a  few  also  become  insane  after  their  reception;  the 
exa»'t  percentufjo  we  could  not  ascertain  in  either  case.  The  dis- 
position to  be  made  of  insane  convicts  is  a  question  of  grave  im- 
portan;^e.  The  best  arrangement  for  their  disposal  is  in  our  own 
state  iU)d  Canada,  where  l.irge  and  admirably  arranged  asylums 
for  criminal  insane  are  provided;  in  Now  York,  at  Auburn;  in 
Canada,  at  Rockwood,  a  mile  or  two  from  the  provincial  peniten- 
tiary. In  ]\Iassachusetts,  they  are  sent  to  one  of  the  state  lunatic 
hospitals.  In  the  majority  of  states,  no  provision  is  made  for  the 
removal  of  these  unfortunates  from  their  places  of  incarceration, 
but  they  are  retained  in  prison  to  their  own  detriment  and  the 
sore  inconveniencv-^  of  the  authorities. 

The  testimony  of  prison  physicians  is  unanimous,  or  nearly  so, 
to  the  ctiect  that  long  imprisonments  are  prejudicial — some  say 
decidedly  so — to  the  health  of  the  imprisoned. 


SECTION  NINTH. 

PmsoN  Industries. 

Persons  convicted  of  felonies  (not  capital)  in  the  United  States 
are  unifornd}-  sentenced  to  imprisonment  with  hard  labor.  The 
element  of  hard  labor  in  the  sentence  is  the  dictate  at  once  of  jus- 
tice and  polic;  :  of  justice,  because  it  is  right  that  criminals,  avIio 
have  put  the  state  to  more  or  less  expense,  should  do  sometliiui'' 
towards  defraying  the  public  C(>?>t  of  their  crimes  ;  of  policy, 
because  work  is  an  essential  condition  of  the  i)risoner's  reforma- 
tion ;  and  reformation,  so  far  as  this  class  of  persons  is  concerned, 
is  the  grea.t  interest  of  the  state. 

Ft>ur  systems  of  convict  labor  have  prevailed,  at  different  timed 
.and  in  different  i)risons,  in  the  several  stat«.>  nf  our  Union. 

The  first  »vstem  is  that  of  w***-kinir  the  ei>nvicts  on  account  of 
the  state — the  state  supplying  the  capital  and  raw  mslnial,  and 
undertaking,  thr'^ugh  it.s  agents,  the  siile  of  the  manufactured 
articles. 

The  second  system  consists  in  leasing  the  prison  for  a  stipulated 


UNITED  STATES  AND  CANADA. 


249 


anniiiil  sum,  to  some  iiulivi<1mil  or  firm,  the  lessee  having  the 
entire!  control  both  of  the  tli.seiplino  tuul  luhor  of  the  convicts, 
procuring  nil  supplies  of  food,  clothing,  medicines,  &c.,  and  con- 
ducting the  whole  Iiusincss  of  the  establishment;  everything,  in 
ctfcct,  being  in  his  discretion  and  at  his  disposal. 

The  tliird  system  consists  in  working  the  prisoners  on  the  joint 
account  of  tiie  state  and  the  warden  ;  the  latter  agreeing  to  be  at 
all  the  expense  of  conducting  the  prison,  and  receiving  a  certain 
percentage  of  the  profits  in  lieu  of  salary. 

The  fourth  is  what  is  known  as  the  contract  systenj  of  convict 
labor.  It  consists  in  letting  the  labor  of  the  convicts  to  certain 
parties,  called  contractors,  who  hire  it  for  a  stipulated  period, 
conunonly  five  years,  at  so  much  per  day  for  each  nmn.  Generally 
the  rates  paid  for  this  lalxn*  are  low,  ranging  from  thirty  to  forty- 
live  cents  a  day.  At  present,  owing  to  the  great  demand  for 
.^killed  labor  and  the  high  price  of  all  eonnnodities  in  the  market, 
liic  rates  are  considerably  in  advance  of  former  times.  Thus,  the 
average  daily  rate  of  wages  on  all  the  contracts  in  the  Massachu- 
setts state  prison  is  eighty  cents  ;  in  that  of  Ohio,  sixty-five  ccntsj 
at  Sing  Sing,  forty-eight  cents;  at  Auburn,  sixty-three  cents,  and 
in  other  prisons  on  the  same  general  scale  of  advance.  But  now, 
as  heretofore,  these  rates  are  not  more  tlian  one-third  or  one-fourth 
of  what  is  paid  for  the  same  kinds  of  lai)or  outside  ;  while,  at  the 
same  time,  the  convict  laborers  perform,  in  some  prisons  (that  of 
JIassaehusetts,  for  example),  quite  as  nmch  as  the  same  number  of 
citizen  laborers  would  accomplish  ;  and  in  noi'c  is  the  proportion 
loss  than  three-fourths  or  two-thirds.  jNIoreover,  not  only  do  eon- 
tractors  get  the  labor  of  the  convicts  at  these  cheap  rates,  but  they 
arc  also  furnished  with  all  the  necessary  shop  and  yard  room, 
without  any  charge  for  rent ;  a  consideration  worth,  not  unfre- 
qiiently,  several  thousand  dollar.^  per  annum. 

We  propose,  in  this  section  to  go,  at  some  length,  into  the  expo- 
sition and  illustration  of  the  several  systems  of  convict  labor, 
more  particularly  the  one  last  mentioned;  previously  to  which, 
however,  we  will  submit  a  few  general  facts  connected  with  the 
iiuUistries  of  our  prisons. 

The  average  number  of  hoiu's  during  which  convicts  are  worked 
thronghout  the  year,  varies  from  nine  to  ten  hours,  the  extremes 
being  from  eight  hours  in  the  winter  to  twelve  in  the  summer. 

It  is  surprising  how  small,  comparatively,  is  the  number  of 
skilled  mechanics  found  among  the  inmates  of  prisons.     The  great 


,)'-',< 


i; 


Hi 


^^, 


I 


'*  'I 


250 


I'HISONR  ANU  UKI'OHMATOIilKS  OF  TIIR 


1 1 


muss  of  piisoiici'M  is  iuikK^  iii»  oI'  d.'iy-lulion'i'M,  doiucsllc  NciviinlN, 
lin.'iliiH'ii,  siiildi'.s,  ciiniu'ii,  liiir-l('ii(l<'rs,  itc,  Ac.  ]\Ir.  Cunlicr,  df 
Wisi'diisin,  hjivm:  '' N'iiI,  li'ii  per  <'('ii1.  of  (lie  coiivicis  riMcivcd 
(liii'in^  llu^  IiinI  Toim  yciii'h  -I he  period  cuvcrcd  l»y  my  ndiiiiiiisd.i- 
tioti  -were  <j.'i'd  mcclmiiics;  alioiit  Icii  per  cciil.  knew  flu-  lii>i 
niditiH'lits  of  :i  fr.'idr;  niid  ikiI  Ichh  iIiiiii  ci^lify  per  ccnl,,  or  I'lMir- 
lil'llis,  were  willioiil  ji  hiidc  nilindy."  Tlds  is  tdioiil  llic  ;i'»'i'd 
proportion,  iis  j^ivcii  l)y  llic  olliccrs  of  ollici'  pi'isoiis.  Ii  i-  llic 
s.iliH'  ill  other  coiiiilrics.  'I'lie  j^ovel'lioi  of  the  lioidii<;li  prison  i\\ 
(iI)is;jo\\ ,  Scotland,  Miyn  in  one  (»!'  Ids  reports:  •  The  iiiiiid»er  ol' 
skilled  wdiknieii  in  the  prison  is  alwiiys  very  sinull,  ii"l  more 
thiin  twenty  out  ol"  the  Avhole  mindierof  men,  that,  is,  twenty  out 
ot'altoiit  one  hundred  and  tit'iy,  on  an  ,ivera;ic.  'Vhv  ^reat,  major- 
ity ol'  our  prisoiuiM  are  Irom  the  worst-paid  and  poorest  classes. 
Theic  is  a  lar^e  class  who  hiuc  not,  lieeii  liron^^ht  up  to  any  re^"i- 
hir  oeenpation." 

rh»«  liiel  ill  iv^rard  t(»  the  mechanie.il  knowledire  and  skill  of 
person,-,  eoniniilted  to  pri>on  Ix-ini;-  as  stated  aliove,  it  is  iniieh  to 
he  reiiii'tled  that  in  our  Ameriean  [)risoiis  ii  I.  not  made  more  of 
a.  distinct  ohject  to  (each  a  l"iill  trade  to  all  who  had  never  learned 
on(<  liel'ore  their  committal,  ^'et  trill h  c(mip(ds  iim  to  report  thai 
this,  as  a  irencral  thiiiir,  is  not  the  ease,  allhon<,di  there  are,  ha|)- 
pily.  some  exeeptioiu.  If  is  the  case  in  icspeet  to  the  easlern 
pcMifciitiary  at  IMiiladelj-hia,  w  liereacom|»lele  trade, most. commonly 


shoemakin; 


I.'  l;o( 


Uht 


io  cvciv  convict, 


Hi 


it  III  prisons  conducted 


on  tin-  conureiiaie  idan.  the  general  rule  is  to  keep  the  men  al 
■\v(  !'k  on  som(>  p:irlicnlar  hrancli  of  hiisiness,  and  teach  them 
nolhiiij;  heyond  that,  so  that  Ihey  iret,  for  the  most  part,  only  a 
littU'  piece  of  a  trade.  Vet  sonulimcs  it  is  olhcrwi.se.  In  tlit; 
pri.siin  i.f  northern  Indiana,  a  distinct,  sti[)nlation  (so  Iho  Avardeii 
informed  ns)  is  incorporated  into  th(>  contract  lettinj;^  the  lal)or,  to 
the  I'tlect  tliat  the  men  shall  learn  all  th(>  tlitlercnl  parts  of  liic 
trade  at  which  they  work:  as  a  coiiM-iincnce  of  Avhich,  ahoni  sixly 
per  cent.  t)f  those  not  knowino-  a  trade  when  committed,  learn  one 
diirinir  their  incarceration.  In  the  Wisconsin  prison,  whore  llio 
contract  system  of  convict  laI>or  do«s  not  ohtain,  the  commi,ssioiicr 
inl\)rmcd  nt*  that  he  made  it  a  point  to  teach  every  convict,  havinij 
a  term  of  two  yi>ars  and  upwards  to  si-rve,  a  full  tradi',  j)rovidc(I 
he  had  any  mechanical  aptitude;  and  here,  also,  si.xty  \)vv  ciMit.  of 
those   not   havin<i  learned  it   hefore,  accjniro  (he  complete  kiic 


)W- 


lodire  of  a  trade  durinu:  their  impriiounient.     In  the  jNIaiuo  state 


UNITED   STATE3   AND  CANADA. 


261 


piisoii,  likt'\\is«',  iVom  wlioMd  iiidiistrics  llic  confrnct  (<}'8(ciii  is 
cxi  liidt'd,  all  who  arc  sentenced  for  fhrc(!  years,  nnd  nearly  idl 
M'i!(cnccd  for  (wo  ycais,  who  wero  not  i»r«'vlously  niccliaidc-.,  aio 
taup;lil  a  fill!  trader  while  in  pi'ison.  In  Srw  Hampshire,  in  like 
lUMincr,  a  poilion  (»l"  the  <'onvict.s  eniploye(|  on  prodncfivc-  lahor 
:irc  w(nkcd  not  hy  contractors,  l)ut  l)y  ihe  nlate;  an<l  in  r<'.spect  to 
llicsc,  it  is  made  i;  dis(ine<  ohject  to  ;.nvc  to  all  of  them  th(^  knoW' 
Icdirc  and  mastery  of  a  complete  trade,  if  Ihey  Jiad  n(!ver  hwirnetl 
one  hcfore  their  imprisonment. 

'I'hc  inipoi'lanci^  of  impart in<r  to  ])ri>oncrM  the  complete  kiiowl- 
{'{]<^('  of  a  tiadc,  as  it  lies  in  (he  minds  'if  those  most  compcfent 
lo  form  and  prononnce  an  opinion,  may  l»c  infcrr.  rl  from  th(!  fact 
Ihal,  with  alKS(dii(<'  nnanimily,  prison  olHcers  d<  it  to  he  their 

jiidiinient  that  the  reformation  <tf  the  impriw  'd  he  pio- 

molcd  hy  giving  jirrealer  prominence  io  this  ol  ,s  done  at 

prcseni;  and  they  fnilher  de(dare  it  as  their  opinion  tin  reformji«. 
lion,  gennine  and  permanent,  Avhalcver  tin;  first  cost  of  it  may  lie, 
is,  in  the  lon;i;  inn,  the  chcap»'st  and  most  i)roti(al)lc,  and  will 
prove  I  he  greatest  nltimat(!  ix-cimiaiT  gain  (o  (he  stale. 

'I'here  is  ji  (pieslion  of  considerahlc  intci'cst  and  importance  con- 
lU'ctcd  with  th(^  ufcneral  .snhject  of  prison  indnstrics,  which  wo 
invest  igatcul  to  .sonu!  extent,  and  in  reference  to  whiidi  it  is  prop(>r 
thai  we  rei)oi'l  the  resnit  of  onr  investigation — wo  mean  ov<!i'-v.()rk. 
In  most  American  priscns,  this  is  not  alloweil;  ))nt  all  pi-isoner.s 
;ii'c  re(|iMrcd  to  work  from  he'l  to  l)ell,  that  is,  th(>  entire  day,  for 
the  henelit  oj'  the  contractor,  or  for  that  of  the  state,  if  they  arc 
engaged  on  states  work.  In  other  prisons,  tasks  nw.  a.ssigiUMJ  to 
llie  men,  which  the  majoi'ity  of  tlicMn  can  accomplish  before  tljo 
expiration  of  the  workinir  hours  of  the 'day,  some  even  as  early  as 
(deven  or  twelve  o'clock  in  the  nioi'ning,  and  others  at  ditl'ercnt 
hours  of  the  afternoon,  ^\\r.\t  thoy  do,  AvheJi  tli(>y  are  permitted 
to  do  anything  l)eyon<l  their  allotted  tasks,  is  called  over-work; 
and  the  avails  of  such  labor  belong  to  themselves. 

This  whole  matter  seems  to  be  better  managed  in  the  state  i)en- 
itontiary  of  Ohio  than  in  any  other  prison  to  which  our  inquiries 
were  directed.  It  is  here  brought  under  subjection  to  the  law,  by 
wliich  it  is  regulated  in  all  its  parts  and  ramifications.  All  pris- 
soners,  who  finish  their  tasks  before  the  close  of  the  day,  have  the 
right  secured  to  them  of  employing  the  hours  that  remain  in  doing 
over-work.  The  hiAV  regulates  the  prices  to  be  paid  for  this  extra 
labor,  which  are,  in  all  cases,  to   l)e  at  the  same  rate  per  day  as 


-*.<  Ill 


.\^  v'  ^ 


IMAGE  EVALUATION 
TEST  TARGET  (MT-3) 


^O 

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1.0 


I.I 


11.25 


lA^IM    |2.5 
H:   li°    III  2.0 


llllim 

1.4  mil  1.6 


6" 


d%^ 


Ta 


v: 


7 


Photographic 

Sdaices 

Corporation 


23  WEST  MAIN  STREET 

WEBSTER,  N.Y.  14580 

(716)872-4503 


^^ 


^ 


^. 


6^ 


252 


PRISONS  AND  BEFORMA  TOBIES  OF   THE 


paid  by  contractors  to  the  state  for  the  same  kind  of  work.  The 
task  to  be  exacted  of  the  prison  laborers  is  fixed  by  agreement  of 
the  prison  authorities  and  contractors;  it  is  at  present  equal  to 
four-fifths  of  the  ordinary  day's  work  required  of  an  average 
mechanic  in  the  same  department  of  labor.  The  wages  for  over- 
woi'k  are  paid  into  the  state  treasury  to  the  credit  of  the  prisoners 
who  earned  the  same;  but  no  interest  is  allowed  on  their  accumu- 
lations. Prisoners  may  draw  money  so  deposited  for  the  use  of 
their  families,  or  for  the  purchase  of  such  books  as  may  be 
approved  by  the  authorities.  It  is  stated  to  be  "  wot  particularhj 
prejudicial  to  health;  "  and  the  influence  of  the  system,  regulated 
and  managed  as  described  above,  is  reported  as  "  generally  good." 

The  account  given  us  of  the  organization  and  working  of  the 
sj'stem  of  over-stent  in  the  state  prison  of  northern  Indiana  agrees 
vsubstantially  with  that  which  we  have  set  forth  in  the  preceding 
paragi'aph,  as  found  in  the  state  penitentiary  of  Ohio. 

In  most  other  prisons,  where  it  is  alloAved,  overwork  has  neither 
legal  existence  nor  legal  regulation.  It  has  sprung  up  and  grown, 
as  it  were,  unconsciously,  without  plan  or  design,  and  is  conducted, 
in  a  loose  and  irresponsible  manner.  Mr.  Seaton,  late  warden  of 
the  Michigan  state  prison,  says  of  it:  "  It  is  of  no  benefit  to  either 
convict  or  discipline,  as  at  present  managed." 

In  the  state  prisons  of  New  York,  the  system  of  overwork  has 
had  an  existence  for  many  years.  The  whole  thing  has  there  been 
mostly  in  the  hands  and  under  the  control  of  the  contractors — 
mere  outsiders,  having  no  interest  in  the  discipline  of  the  prison 
or  the  reformation  of  the  prisoners,  but  only  in  making  as  much 
money  out  of  them  as  possible.  Some  contractors  granted  and 
some  refused  permission  to  their  men  to  do  overwork.  Some 
allowed  perhaps  half,  and  others  not  more  than  a  fourth  or  an 
eighth,  of  their  employes  to  engage  in  it.  These  discriminations 
vere  an  endless  source  of  discontent,  jealousy,  heart-burning  and 
deception.  They  were  the  occasion  of  no  small  proportion  of  all 
the  punishments  inflicted  in  the  prisons.  The  system  in  the  end 
proved  so  demoralizing  to  the  morale  and  discipline  of  the  pr'sons 
that,  as  we  have  been  informed,  the  inspectors  have  issued,  or 
declared  their  intention  to  issue,  an  order  abolishing  it  altogether. 
But  while  we  approve  of  the  abolishment  of  a  system  so  partial, 
80  irresponsible  and  so  fruitful  of  mischief,  we  cannot  approve  of 
doing  so  without  replacing  it  with  a  better.  To  deprive  men,  who 
for  years  have  been  permitted  to  earn  something  for  themselves, 


UNITED  STATES  AND  CANADA. 


253 


of  all  opportunity  of  such  self-help,  from  no  fault  of  their  own,  is 
too  violent  a  wrench  to  the!,  feelings,  and  must  react  unfavorably 
in  many  ways.  The  bestowment  of  gratuities  in  money,  the  allow- 
ance (»f  a  certain  percentage  of  their  earnings,  or  some  other  equi- 
valent, under  proper  regulations,  should  have  been  made  at  once 
to  take  the  place  of  the  forbidden  and  exploded  system  of  over- 
work. 

We  come  now  to  a  consideration  of  the  several  labor  systems, 
which  either  at  present  prevail,  or  have  heretofore  prevailed,  in 
the  different  state  prisons  of  our  country. 

The  system  noted  in  our  enumeration  as  the  third  —  that, 
namelj',  which  consists  in  working  the  prisoners  on  the  joint 
account  of  the  state  and  the  warden — no  longer  exists  in  practice 
in  any  prison  of  which  we  have  any  knowledge.  It  is  the  princi- 
ple on  which  the  industries  of  the  penitentiary  of  Kentucky  were 
formerly,  for  so  many  years,  conducted;  but  it  has  long  since  been 
abandoned.  It  is  a  principle  Avhich  we  consider  utterly  unsound 
as  a  basis  of  prison  management:  but  its  financial  results  were 
remarkable.  They  will  be  exhibited  under  another  division  of 
this  section. 

The  system  noted  as  the  second  in  our  enumeration — that,  to 
wit,  which  consists  in  leasing  the  prison  for  an  annual  considera- 
tion to  some  individual  or  firm  for  a  specified  number  of  years — 
is  the  one  now  adopted  in  Illinois  and  Kentucky.  It  was  formerly 
practiced  in  Missouri,  but  has  been  disused  there.  Of  the  work- 
ing of  the  system  in  the  penitentiary  of  that  state,  Mr.  Miller, 
late  warden  of  the  same,  who  knew  it  from  personal  observation, 
observes:  "  Bad  as  the  contract  system  is  in  a  reformatory  view, 
even  when  checked  and  controlled  by  the  state's  appointed  agent, 
it  is,  nevertheless,  far  better  than  the  system  of  absolute  leasing, 
as  was  once  the  case  in  this  state,  and  is  now  practised  in  Illinois 
and  Kentucky,  and  perhaps  in  some  other  states.  For,  while  the 
leasing  system  is  liable  to  all  the  abuses  of  the  contract  system,  it 
is  open  to  some  peculiar  to  itself;  or  if  not  peculiar,  at  least  in 
greater  strength  than  in  the  other.  As  the  lessee  is  unrestrained 
by  any  authority,  and  is  in  the  position  of  absolute  master,  the 
temptation  to  excessive  gains  and  to  whatever  abuses  may  be 
thought  conducive  to  that  end,  will  only  cease  when  self-interest 
itself  cries,  "Hold,  enough!"  In  this  short  exstract  we  have  the 
very  quintescence  of  the  system.  The  same  principle  underlies  it 
as  that  which  generated  all  the  horrible  and  disgusting  abuses  of 


254 


PRISONS   AND   REFORMATOaiES  OF   THE 


the  old  English  jail  system,  against  which  Howard  lifted  up  his 
voice  and  arm.  The  great,  central  evil  of  that  system  was,  .hat 
the  keeper,  free  from  supervision  and  restraint,  was  left  to  make 
his  living  out  of  the  prison.  A  salary  was  seldom  paid  to  him. 
Sometimes  ho  paid  a  rent;  sometimes  he  bought  his  place.  How- 
ard, in  his  "State  of  Prisons,"'  mentions  many  examples.  Thus,  for 
the  wardenship  of  a  prison  in  Norwich,  the  keeper  paid  £40 — equal 
to  $200 — a  year.  One  Huggins  purchai^ed  a  lease  of  the  wardeusliip 
of  the  Fleet,  in  London,  for  his  own  and  his  son's  life,  at  c£5,(J0U. 
When  he  became  old,  as  "  his  son  did  not  care  to  take  on  him 
so  troublesome  an  office,"  he  sold  out  to  one  Bambridge  Avhat 
remained  of  his  lease  for  the  same  sum,  i:o,000.  These  men 
enriched  themselves  and  lived  in  luxury  from  the  fees,  rents  par- 
ings from  prison  rations,  garui-h,  prison  taps,  and  other  devices 
for  squeezing  money  out  of  the  poor  prisoners;  our  lessees  do  the 
same  thing  through  the  use  of  their  muscles  and  sinews,  and  by 
an  undue  stinting  in  their  allowances  of  food  and  clothing. 

The  same  persons  in  the  penitentiaries  of  Illinois  and  Kentucky, 
contract  for  the  food,  clothing,  labor,  and  sanitary  care  of  the  con- 
victs ;  a  system,  as  DeToqueville  has  suggested,  equally  injurious 
to  the  interests  of  the  convict  and  the  discipline  of  the  prison.  It 
is  injurious  to  the  convict,  because  the  lessee,  seeing  nothing  but 
u  money  transaction  in  his  lease,  speculates  on  the  food  and 
clothing,  as  ho  does  upon  the  labor  ;  if  he  loses  on  the  clothing, 
he  indemnifies  himself  on  the  food  ;  if  the  labor  is  not  as  produc- 
tive as  he  calculated,  he  seeks  to  balance  his  loss  in  that  direction 
by  spending  less  on  the  supplies.  The  system  is  injurious  to  the 
prison,  because  the  lessee,  looking  upon  the  convict  simply  as  a 
laboring  machine,  thinks  only  how  he  can  use  him  to  the  greatest 
pecuniary  advantage  ;  and  he  cares  little,  if  th  us  are  made  to 
the  prejudice  of  the  discipline  {ind  good  orJei    .  the  institution. 

Such  is  the  rationale  of  the  operation  of  this  system.  Do  the 
facts  tally  with  the  theory,?.  We  think  i^.  During  our  visit  to 
Frankfort,  divei-s  com'ptaints  or  charges  were  related  to  us  as; 
having  been  made  against  different  lesliees  of  the  prison,  on  the 
ground  of  their  unjust,  and  unfeeling  treatment  of  the  prisoner.-?. 
One  was  charged  with  havingr^'catly  overtasked  his  men,  so  that 
they  became  broken  down  iii  health  and  constitution;  another,  witli 
having  kept  them  on  lAitions  so  stinted  in  quantity  and  so  inferior 
in  quality,  as  to  have  induced  a  general  epidemic  of  the  scurvy  ; 
and  all,  with  treating  them  badly  towards  the  end  of  their  lease 


UNITED  STATES   AND   CANADA.        J 


m 


in  respect  to  food,  clothes,  bedding,  and  other  snpplics,  being 
naturally  anxious  to  spend  as  little  and  make  as  much  as  possible, 
in  anlicipatiou  of  the  winding  up  of  the  whole  business.  Thus, 
every  interest  of  the  prisoner,  bodily  and  spiritual,  and  every 
interest  of  the  state,  material  and  moral,  are  lost  sight  of  in  the 
one,  all-absorbing  idea  of  making  money.  Every  cftort  of  chap- 
lains or  inspectors  to  improve  the  morals  of  the  convicts,  which 
will  demand  a  moment  of  their  time,  is  regarded  with  disfavor 
and  trameled  by  the  lessee  in  all  conceivable  ways.  Food  and 
clothing  are  brought  down  to  the  minimum  point.  The  strength 
of  the  convicts  is  tasked  beyond  all  bounds  of  reason  or  endurance. 
The  property  of  the  state  is  either  abused  orsuftcred  to  go  to  ruin. 
Convicts  are  regarded  as  so  many  machines  or  slaves,  and  are 
valued  and  cared  for  only  for  the  work  they  are  able  to  do.  The 
idoji  of  reforming  them  is  ignored,  and  all  the  higher  ends  of 
penal  discipline  are  held  in  abeyance.  Such  are  the  impressions 
which  wo  received  from  what  we  saw  and  heard  during  a  day's 
sojourn  in  the  capital  of  Kentucky. 

The  present  lessee  is  Captain  H.  I.  Todd,  who  was  absent  at  the 
time  of  our  visit,  but  wa.s  spoken  of  to  us  as  a  just  and  humane 
man.  The  bonus  which  he  paj'S  the  state  for  the  use  of  the  prison, 
and  the  labor  of  the  convicts  for  four  years,  is  $2,800;  that  is, 
$6,000  a  year  for  the  first  two  years,  and  .$8,000  a  year  for  the 
last  two.  By  the  terms  of  t'le  lease,  he  is  constituted  warden  or 
keeper  of  the  prison;  is  invested  with  its  government  and  disci- 
pline; is  charged  with  the  entire  expenses  of  its  support;  and  is  to 
return  the  property  to  the  state,  at  the  expiration  of  the  lease,  in 
as  good  condition  as  it  w^as  received.  The  pecuniary  results  of 
this  system  will  appear  further  on. 

The  system  of  prison  labor,  liist  in  our  enumeration  that  of 
working  the  convicts  on  account  of  the  state — is  adopted,  as  far  as 
we  arc  informed,  in  but  three  state  prisons  in  the  country,  estab- 
lished on  the  Auburn  plan,  viz.:  Clinton  prison  in  New  York,  and 
those  of  Maine  and  AVisconsin;  it  is  also  in  partial  use  in  that  of 
New  Hampshire.  All  these  establishments  are  more  than  self- 
supporting,  except  that  of  Wisconsin,  which  lacks  little  of  having 
an  income  from  the  labor  of  its  inmates  equal  to  its  expenditures. 

The  fourth  system  named — that  known  as  the  contract  system — 
is  the  one  commonly  adopted  in  our  American  prisons.  What  the 
system  is,  has  been  already  declared.  It  remains  to  inquire  what 
effect  it  has  on  the  finances  and  discipline  of  the  prisons  in  which 


256 


PRISONS  AND  REFORMATORIES   OT    THE 


il  I!  : 


it  exists;  and  what  on  the  reformation  of  their  prisoners  and  their 
preparation  for  a  return  to  civil  life  and  a  re-absorption  into  free 
society? 

The  general  influence  of  letting  the  labor  of  the  convicts  to  a 
class  of  outside  persons,  called  contractors,  was,  from  the  first, 
regarded  with  apprehension  by  those  three  early  apostles  of  the 
Auburn  system  of  prison  discipline,  P]lam  Lynds,  Gershom  Powers, 
and  Moses  C.  Pilsbury,  the  two  former  connected  with  the  system 
in  New  York,  and  the  latter  with  the  same  system  both  in  ^ew 
Hampshire  and  Connecticut.  The  dread  of  it  felt  by  Mr.  Lynds, 
we  learn  from  a  remark  of  De  Toqueville,  in  his  Penitentiary  Sys- 
tem of  the  United  States.  Ho  says:  "  Mr.  Elam  Lynds  seems  con- 
stantly to  fear  that  the  presence  of  the  contractors  in  the  prison 
will  lead,  sooner  or  later,  to  the  total  ruin  of  the  discipline." 
Judge  Powers'  fears  are  thus  expressed  by  himself  in  his  report  to 
the  Legislature  of  New  York,  in  1828:  "This  mode  of  employing 
convicts  is  attended  with  considerable  danger  to  the  discipline  of 
the  prison,  by  Jiringing  the  convicts  in  contact  with  contractors 
and  their  agents,  unless  ver}'  strict  rules  are  rigidly  enforced." 
To  the  question,  "  How  docs  your  contract  system  work  now?" 
Mr.  Pilsbury  replies,  in  1839:  "Destructive  to  everything  which 
may  be  called  good,  both  as  it  relates  to  the  institution  and  the 
prisoners;  and  I  am  not  sure,  Ijut  I  may  add,  to  the  contractor 
also."  The  question  and  answer  refer  to  a  contract  system  similar 
to  that  which  now  prevails  in  Illinois  and  Kentucky;  a  83'stem  l>y 
which  one  man  contracts  to  support  the  institution  and  have  all 
the  proceeds.  This  must  l)c  imderstood  in  order  to  appreciate  the 
keen  sarcasm  conveyed  in  the  last  part  of  Mi*.  Pilsbury's  statement. 

In  what  we  say  on  this  subject,  we  shall  draw  our  facts  in  part 
from  the  results  of  our  own  inquiries,  and  in  part  from  the  evi- 
dence taken  before  a  commission  of  the  Prison  Association  in  186l». 

How,  then,  does  the  contract  sj^stem  aftect  the  pecuniary  inte- 
rests of  the  state  ? 

It  would  naturally  be  inferred  from  the  essential  character  of 
the  system,  as  above  exhibited,  that  the  state  nuist  be  a  loser  by 
it.  Taking  the  statements  most  favorable  to  the  state,  it  appears 
that  prison  contractors  obtain  the  labor  of  three  convicts  where 
they  would  get  that  of  one  citizen,  and  yet  that  each  convict  per- 
forms, on  the  average,  three-fourths  as  much  work  as  a  citizen 
laborer.  Putting  these  elements  together,  the  case  stands  thus: 
The  labor  of  twelve  convicts  will  cost  no  more  per  day  than  that 


UtIITED  STATES  AND   CANADA.  ::T 


237 


of  four  citizens;  yet  the  convicts  will  do  nine  days'  work,  while 
the  citizens  will  do  but  four.  Thus  every  dollar  paid  for  convict 
labor  will  produce  as  much  as  two  dollars  and  a  quarter  expended 
on  citizen  labor.  Is  it  possible  that  the  state  can  be  other  than  a 
loser  by  a  system  which  sells  the  labor  of  its  convicts  at  one  hun- 
dred and  fifty  per  cent,  less  than  the  same  labor  could  be  obtained 
elsewhere  ? 

On  its  face,  this  statement  appears  as  incredible  as  it  is  astound* 
ing.  We  will,  therefore,  explain  how  it  is  that  the  state  sells,  and 
indeed  finds  itself  obliged  to  sell,  its  labor  at  such  a  discount. 
In  the  first  place,  the  contract  system  amounts,  in  practice,  to  an 
almost  absolute  monopoly,  arising  from  the  fact  tha.t  the  contrac- 
tors own  the  power,  machinery  and  stock  of  the  shops;  they  are 
established  in  the  business,  and  knowing  ihe  profits,  which,  as  far 
as  possible,  they  keep  in  their  own  breast,  they  can,  almost  uni- 
formly, so  regulate  their  bids  as  to  keep  out  all  others  who  aspire 
to  become  contractors.  In  the  second  place,  contractors  some- 
times combine  to  keep  down  the  rates  to  be  paid  for  convict  labor 
to  the  lowest  possible  point.  In  the  third  place,  when  a  new 
branch  of  business  was  to  be  introduced  into  a  prison,  similar  com- 
binations have  been  entered  into  by  persons  outside,  who  sought 
to  become  contractors,  one  party  paying  to  the  others  certain  stipu- 
lated sums  of  money,  on  condition  that  they  would  decline  to  put 
in  bids,  and  thus  obtaining  the  prisoners  at  a  price  much  below 
that  which  would  have  been  just  and  fair.  And  finally,  they  have 
been  known  to  decry,  in  the  strongest  terms,  the  labor  of  the  con- 
victs, and  to  impugn  the  rigor  of  the  regulations  as  affecting  con- 
tractors, with  a  view  both  to  discourage  competition  and  reconcile, 
the  public  to  a  low  compensation  for  convict  Jabor.  All  this 
appears  in  the  evidence,  but  we  have  not  space  for  citations.  "Wo 
will  merely  mention  one  fact,  stated  by  Mr.  Augsburj^,  warden  of 
Auburn  prison.  He  says  that  when  the  bids  for  a  certain  contract 
were  made,  a  contractor  who  had  taken  pains  to  disseminate  state- 
ments depreciating  the  value  of  convict  labor,  trusting  to  the  effect 
of  his  misrepresentations,  put  in  a  bid  at  a  very  low  rate,  while 
he  was,  at  the  same  time,  interested  in  another  contract  at  nearly 
double  the  rate  of  compensation  offered  bj'  him. 

Tliere  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  profits  made  by  contractors  out 
of  convict  labor,  are  very  large.  The  testimony  of  all  the  wit- 
nesses is  concurrent  to  this  point.  Mi'.  Hayues,  of  the  Charles- 
town  i)rison,  says:  "  Our  contractors  have  always  become  wealthy, 

[Assem.  No.  35. J  17 


i 


258 


PRISONS  AND  REFORMATORIES  OF   THE 


if  they  have  retained  their  contracts  for  any  length  of  time." 
And  this  is  a  fair  specimen  of  the  general  tone  and  tenor  of  th« 
evidence.  Nothing  can  more  conclusively  demonstrate  the  very 
large  gains  realized  from  convict  labor  than  a  fact  mentioned  by 
Mr.  Augsbury.  There  was,  he  says,  a  contract  given  out  ut 
Auburn,  in  1863,  on  which  the  men  were  let  ut  forty  cents  a  day. 
A  water  power,  Avorth  $1,500  a  year,  was  charged  to  the  contract- 
ors at  $240;  and  yard  and  shop  room,  which  would  have  lented 
outside  for  $2,000,  was,  as  usual,  thrown  in  without  charge.  This 
contract  was  to  run  five  years.  At  the  expiration  of  the  second 
year,  the  balance  of  the  contract  was  sold  to  another  party  for  u 
bonus  of  $30,000.  In  this  case,  a  considerable  fortune  was  rea- 
lized from  a  single  contract  in  the  brief  space  of  two  years. 

The  question  arises  here,  Avhether  the  same  or  nearly  the  same 
profits  might  not  be  made  for  the  state  under  a  system,  in  which 
the  industries  of  a  prison  should  l)e  managed  by  its  head;  itboing 
pre-supposed  that  the  said  chief  officer  is  a  person  of  competent 
ability,  of  incorruptible  integrity,  and  permanent  in  his  position, 
so  that  the  lights  of  experience  umy  be  added  to  the  force  of  natu- 
ral endowments.  That  this  question  may  be  answered  in  the  affirma- 
tive is  clear  to  our  conviction  from  the  proofs  which  we  arc  about 
to  submit.  These  proofs  arc  of  a  tMo-l'old  form,  that  of  opinion 
and  that  of  experience  or  fact. 

We  will  first  summon  to  the  stand  a  company  of  witnesses, 
whoso  competency  is  unquestionable.  The  first  we  oiTer  is  the 
veteran,  Amos  Pilsbury,  the  oldest  and  most  experienced  prison 
officer  in  America.  General  P.  says  in  his  testimony:  "  I  have  no 
doubt  that  more  money  nn'ght  be  made  I)y  managing  the  prison 
labor  myself."  Mr.  G.  B.  Hubbell,  ex-Avarden  of  Sing  iSing  prison, 
testifies:  "I  believe  that  a  competent  general  officer  can  manage 
the  industries  of  a  prison  much  more  to  the  interest  of  the  state 
and  the  convicts,  in  all  respects,  than  can  bo  done  under  the  con- 
tract system."  Mr.  D.  L.  Seymour,  also  an  cx-wardcn  of  Sing 
Sin"",  says:  "  I  have  no  doubt  whatever  that,  if  the  contract  system 
had  been  abolished  and  I  could  have  majiuged  the  prison  labor 
myself,  I  could  have  earned  a  considerable  surplus  revenue  for 
the  state."  We  will  not  encumber  our  pages  with  further  cita- 
tions. The  same  opinion  is  expressed  by  Mr.  Rice,  of  Maine; 
Mr.  Seaton  and  Mr.  Brock \va3',  of  Michigan;  Mr.  Wood,  of  Indi- 
ana} Mr.  Miller,  of  Missouri;  and  Mr.  Cordier,  of  Wisconsin;  all 


UNITED  STATES  AND  CANADA. 


259 


of  thorn  gentlemen  of  intelligence,  and  most  of  them  of  lurge 
experience  as  prison  officers. 

So  much  for  authority.  Now  let  us  interrogate  experience. 
What  do  facts  say?    Their  voice  is  no  less  decisive. 

We  will  begin,  as  before,  with  the  veteran  of  Wethcrsfield  and 
Albany.  In  his  evidence  before  the  coniinission  of  186(5,  General 
Pilsbury  states  that,  during  a  portion  of  the  time  when  he  was 
warden  at  Welhersfield,  ho  managed  the  entire  labor  of  the  con- 
vicld  himself,  and  that,  during  another  portion,  about  one  half  of 
the  labor  was  let  to  contractors.  He  adds:  "  In  a  financial  point 
of  view,  the  management  of  the  labor  by  myself  was  most  success- 
ful." In  Clinton  prison,  N.  Y.,  the  contract  system  having  been 
abolished,  the  labor  was  last  year  managed  by  the  prison  authori- 
ties. The  result  of  this  change  is,  that  the  institution.  Instead  of 
being  a  drain  upon  the  public  treasury,  as  heretofore,  to  tho 
amount  of  $30,000  or  more  a  year,  has  become  u  source  of  revenue 
to  the  state,  tho  income  having  exceeded  the  expenditure  by  some 
$3,000,  and  the  inspectors  anticipate  a  much  larger  surplus  in 
future  years.  At  the  time  of  our  vis^it  to  the  state  prison  at 
Thomaston,  Me.,  Mr.  Rice  had  been  warden  for  two  and  a  half 
years,  the  pi-isoii  labor  being  wholly  managed  by  himself,  on  a 
capital  of  $10,000  furnished  by  the  state.  During  that  period, 
with  an  average  of  less  than  one  hundred  convicts,  he  had,  des- 
pite the  extraordinary  cost  of  all  prison  supplies,  paid'  tho  entire 
current  expenses  of  the  institution,  including  officers'  salaries,  and 
earned  a  clear  profit  of  $7,000.  Mr.  Cordier,  commissioner  of  the 
Wisconsin  state  prison,  says:  "  Our  average  number  of  convicts  last 
year  was  110,  only  63  of  whom  could  be  employed  on  prodn  rive 
labor.  Their  earnings  amounted  to  $25,727.34,  Avhich  shows  il;at 
these  63  men  earned  each  $1.36  per  day.  If  the  labor  of  tho  con- 
victs had  been  let  to  contractors  at  (say)  sixty  cents  a  da}'  (a  high 
figure),  the}'  would  have  earned  only  $11,340,  supposing  them  to 
have  lost  no  time  on  account  of  sickness  and  from  other  causes, 
and  the  state  would  have  sacrificed  in  one  year  $14,387.34." 

A  strong  light  is  thrown  on  the  matter  of  prison  lal)or  by  tho 
financial  history  of  Illinois  and  Kentucky.  In  the  former  of  these 
states,  the  plan  of  leasing  the  prison,  at  a  bonus  of  so  much  per 
annum,  has  been  practised  from  its  foundation.  During  the  greater 
part  of  this  time,  Mr.  Samuel  A.  Buckmastor  has  been  tho  lessee. 
This  gentleman,  as  tho  result  of  such  arrangement,  has  (so  wo  are 


260 


PRISONS  AND   REFORMATORIES  OF  THE 


ii)formcd),  amassed  n  very  largo  Ibrtunc.  Wo  cortuinly  do  not  com- 
mend, but,  on  the  conti'nry,  oppose  ns  ohjcctionuble  to  the  Inst 
degree,  the  principle  of  this  arrangement ;  yet  the  fact  just  stated 
shows  tlmt  the  industries  of  a  prison  may  be  successfully  nuuiagcd 
by  the  same  mind  that  jjrcsidcs  over  the  discipline. 

The  history  of  the  Kentucky  penitentiary  affords  additional  prbof 
of  the  same  thing.  In  1825,  the  principle  was  adopted  of  allow- 
ing the  keeper,  in  lieu  of  all  other  compensation,  one  half  of  the 
profits,  after  defraying  the  current  expenses.  Joel  Scott  was  the 
first  keeper  under  this  system,  and  he  served  for  nine  years.  The 
clear  profits  from  convict  labor  during  his  administration  were 
$81,136.  Mr.  Scott  was  succeeded  by  Thomas  S.  Theobald,  who 
took  the  prison  on  the  same  terms.  Tlie  aggregate  profits  of  his 
administration  of  ten  years,  the  average  number  of  prisoners  being 
less  than  one  hundred  and  fifty,  wore  $200,000 ;  and  one  year 
they  reached  the  extraordinary  sum  of  $30,000.  Every  dollar  of 
the  state's  share — $100,000 — was  paid  into  the  public  treasury. 
In  1855,  Zcbulon  Ward  leased  the  prison  for  four  years,  at  an 
annual  rent  of  $6,000  ;  and  at  the  end  of  his  term,  he  retired  with 
a  fortune  variously  estimated  at  $50,000  to  $75,000.  Mr.  Ward 
was  succeeded  l)y  J.  W.  South,  who  leased  the  prison  for  a  like 
period,  though  at  the  advanced  rent  of  $12,000  a  year.  He  also, 
at  the  end  of  his  four  years'  service,  is  repoited  to  have  retired 
■with  an  ample  fortune,  as  the  product  of  convict  earnings.  The 
above  facts  ore  derived  from  a  History  of  the  Kentucky  Peniten- 
tiary, by  William  C.  Sneed,  M.  D.,  long  the  medical  officer  of  the 
prison,  and  a  perfectly  reliable  authority. 

The  above  argument,  to  prove  the  repugnance  of  the  contract 
system  to  the  pecuniary  interest  of  the  state, — resting  on  the 
essential  nature  of  the  system,  on  the  authority  of  competent 
judges,  and  on  the  results  of  experience, — we  cannot  but  regard 
as  a  three-fold  cord,  not  to  be  easily  broken. 

But  in  New  York  there  is  a  special  argument  of  no  little  potency 
demonstrative  of  the  same  proposition.  It  is  in  evidence  in  the 
testimony  taken  by  the  commission  of  1866,  that  the  state  has, 
through  a  long  series  of  years,  been  mulcted  in  damages  of  colos- 
sal magnitude,  paid  to  contractors  ;  damages  resting,  for  the  most 
part,  if  not  altogether,  (m  no  foundation  of  justice  or  reason.  Wo 
will  cite  but  one  case  out  of  man}'.  Col.  Wilkinson,  of  Auburn, 
in  his  sworn  testimony,  says:  "A  contractor  who  was  allowed 
the  valuable  water  power  of  this  prison  without  charge,  and  yet 


UNITED  STATES  AND  CANADA. 


2C1 


pjiitl  less  for  the  bibor  of  his  man  than  other  contractors  who  fur- 
nished their  own  power,  has  gone  back  on  the  state  for  heovy 
damages,  chiimed  to  have  accrued  through  a  long  series  of  years, 
in  consequence  of  some  deficiencies,  from  time  to  time,  in  the  sup- 
ply of  water.  The  damages  claimed  were,  if  I  rightly  remember, 
Kome  $200,000 ;  and  tliey  wore  allowed  to  the  amount  of  $125,000, 
and  I  think  more."  The  colonel  puts  it  with  epigrammatic  aptness 
and  force,  in  the  added  remark,  that  "this  sum  was  paid  by  the 
state,  in  eflfect,  for  the  privilege  of  making  a  present  to  the  con- 
tractor of  the  use  of  the  prison  water  power."  After  such  Napo- 
leonic achievements  as  this  in  the  science  of  public  plunder,  it  is 
hardly  worth  while  to  mention  a  little  item  in  the  evidence  of  the 
Rev.  Mr.  Ives,  chaplain  of  the  Auburn  prison,  who  stated  that 
cases  had  occurred,  wherein,  in  consequence  of  the  absence  of 
some  half  dozen  men  from  a  shop  for  a  fortnight  (they  being  sick 
or  under  discipline),  the  contractors  have  claimed  damages  equal 
to  the  entire  wages  of  all  the  men  in  the  shop  for  a  whole  month, 
and,  what  is  more,  have  recovered  a  considerable  part  of  it.  Nor 
is  it  worth  Avhile  to  state  the  variety  of  devices,  the  fact  itself  is 
enough,  whereby  these  gentlemen  contrive  to  get  numbers  of  their 
men  on  half  pay,  Avho  are  yet  made  to  do  full  work. 

Our  next  inquiry  is,  how  docs  the  contract  system  affect  the 
discipline  of  the  prison  in  which  it  may  be  found  ? 

The  first  effect  of  this  system  is  to  place,  for  the  whole  work- 
ing day,  all  the  prisoners  contracted  for,  to  a  great  extent,  under 
the  control  of  men  with  no  official  responsibility;  men  independ- 
ent, in  a  great  degree,  of  the  prison  authorities;  men  who  see  in 
the  convicts  only  so  much  machinery  for  making  money;  men 
M'hose  only  recommendation  to  the  positions  they  hold  in  the  pri- 
son is  that  they  proved  the  highest  bidders  for  the  human  beings 
hired  to  them.  The  second  effect  of  the  system  is  to  introduce 
among  the  convicts,  as  superintendents  of  their  labor,  strangers 
to  the  prison,  who  are  employed  by  the  contractors  as  agents, 
foremen,  instructors,  and,  in  some  instances,  even  us  lal)orcrs; 
men  utterly  irresponsible;  men  selected  with  little  regard  to  their 
moral  character,  and  often  without  morals;  men  who  do  not  hesi- 
tate to  smuggle  liquor  and  other  contraband  articles  into  the  pri- 
son and  sell  them  to  convicts  at  100  and  200  per  cent.,  and  even 
more  above  their  fair  market  value.  A  third  eH'cct  of  the  system, 
at  least  in  New  York,  is  to  set  up  in  the  prisons,  "  a  power  be- 
hind the  throne  greater  than  the  throne;"  a  power  which,  by  the 


262 


PRISONS  AND  REFORMATORIES  OP  THB 


J' 
f 

I 
\ 

t 


almost  iinuniiiious  testimony  of  prosunt  aiul  forinor  prison  officers 
in  onr  sttitc,  is  well  nigh  omnipotent,  n  power  which  ronxcs,  briber, 
or  tbrcatons,  according  to  the  exigency  of  the  ca^e,  in  pursuit  of 
its  selHsh  ondu;  a  power  which  mukes  und  unmnkes  officers,  im- 
poses nnd  remits  punishments  through  ngents  it  hns  bent  to  its 
will,  imd  oven  stoops  to  devices  to  get  the  poor  prisoner  who  bus 
incurred  its  wruth  into  strnits  nnd  ditticulties,  thut  its  revenge  mny 
bo  gratified  by  the  sight  of  his  punishment.     Snvely,  after  such  a 
recital  as  this,  it  will  not  be  regarded  as  matter  of  wonder  thut 
numerous  witnesses,  and  among  them  thoso  model  wardens,  David 
L.  Seymour  and  Gaylord  B.  IlubboU,  and  that  distinguished  pri- 
son chaplain,  tho  Kev.  John  Luckey,  attest  by  their  outh  that  the 
contract  system  exerts  a  most  demoralizing  influence  on  tho  disci- 
pline, and  that,  in  tho  New  York  State  prisons,  moi'o  than  half  of 
all  tho  irritation,  discontent,   insubordination  and  punishment  is 
due,  ilirectly  or  indirectly,  to  its  baneful  influence.     "We  do  not 
doubt  that  tiie  influence  of  the  system  is  worso  in  our  state  than 
in  any  other;  but  it  is  folt  elsewhere  as  a  power  for  evil.     Thus, 
Mr.  Seatoii,  of  Michigan,  says  in  his  communication  to  us:     "Tho, 
contract  system  exerts  an  influence  unfavorable  to  discipline;  it  is 
the  source  of  continual  strife  between  the  contractors  and  tho 
convicts." 

Our  only  remaining  inquiry  as  regards  tho  contract  sj-stem  is, 
how  does  it  affect  tho  reformation  of  prisoners  and  their  success- 
ful reabsorption  into  free  society? 

Formerly,  tho  thought  of  reforming  tho  violator  of  law  hardly 
entered  the  miaid  of  tho  philanthropist,  much  less  that  of  the  men 
■who  were  called  to  make  and  administer  the  laws  of  the  states. 
The  ban  of  society  was  upon  him.  Thrust  away  from  public  view, 
he  was  abandoned  as  irreclaimable,  to  tho  mercy  of  men  often 
more  wicked  thun  bimself.  The  logical  issue  of  this  theory,  and 
tho  time  policy  of  states  on  the  assumption  of  its  correctness, 
would  be  hanging  for  all  offences.  Happily,  tliis  cold,  repulsive, 
cruel  doctrine  has  been  exploded.  Experience  has  demonstrated 
the  practicability  of  reformation  even  within  the  walls  of  a  prison. 
It  has  brought  thinking  men  to  tho  conviction  that  the  proper 
object  of  prison  discipline  is  to  cure  the  bad  hal)its  of  criminals, 
and  make  them  peaceable  and  honest  members  of  society;  that  is, 
to  reform  them;  and  this,  to  gain  the  broader  end  of  preventing 
crime  and  insuring  the  safety  of  society.     Such  is   tho  present 


UNITED  fTATEB  AND  CANADA. 


26S 


theory,  which  wo  bcliovo  to  rcb^  upon  a  foundation  of  reason  and 
truth. 

But  reformation  docs  not  follow,  as  a  matter  of  course,  upon 
imprisoniucnt.  It  can  bo  effected  only  through  a  system  of  agen* 
cics,  wisely  planned  and  patiently  carried  out.  These  reformatory 
agencies  arc,  as  wo  conceive,  chiefly  the  following: 

1.  Religion. — This,  undoubtedly,  is  the  first  in  importance,  and 
tlio  most  potent  in  its  action.  But  wo  have  sufficiently  declared 
our  conviction  on  this  point  in  tlio  sixth  section  of  this  chapter, 
and  need  not  repeat  views  which  were  there  fully  sot  forth.  Wo 
will  but  add,  in  this  connection,  that  religion  is  the  only  power 
that  is  able  to  resist  the  irritation  which  saps  the  moral  forces  of 
those  men  of  powerful  impulses,  whose  neglect  of  it  has  been  the 
occasion  of  their  being  immured  within  prison  walls. 

2.  Education. — This,  carried  to  the  furthest  extent  consistent 
with  the  other  purposes  of  a  prison,  is  a  vital  element  in  the  refor- 
mation of  the  fallen.  Education  quickens  the  intellect,  gives  now 
ideas,  supplies  food  for  thought,  inspires  self-respect,  supports 
pride  of  character,  excites  ambition,  opens  now  fields  of  labor,  and 
offers  opportunities  for  social  and  personal  improvement.  What 
argument,  beyond  this  statement,  can  bo  needed  to  show  the  im- 
])ortance  of  education  as  an  agent  in  the  reformation  of  criminals? 

3.  Hahit»  of  Indmtnj. — Labor,  steady,  active,  honorable  labor, 
id  as  much  an  auxiliary  of  virtue  as  it  is  a  menus  of  support.  It 
was  an  aphorism  of  John  Howard,  one  of  his  most  favorite  maxims, 
"make  men  diligent,  and  they  will  be  honest."  And  therein  the 
great  philanthropist  was  unquestionably  right.  Or^  if  any  doubt 
whether  honest}'  is  tho  necessary  sequent  of  diligence,  at  least  it 
will  be  conceded  by  all  that  the  fallen  cannot  attain  and  retain  this 
essential  attribute,  if  they  are  not  diligent.  Hence  work  is  tho 
only  sure  basis  of  an  effective  system  of  prison  discipline.  '•  Unless 
prisoners  acquire  habits  of  industry',  and  a  liking  for  some  kind  of 
labor,"  as  Mr.  F.  Hill  has  observed,  "  little  hope  can  bo  enter- 
tained of  their  conduct  after  liberation."  What  ought,  therefore, 
to  be  aimed  at  as  a  matter  of  prime,  not  to  say  supreme,  import- 
ance, is  the  formation  of  fixed,  permanent  habits  of  useful  labor. 
Good  resolutions  are  well,  as  far  as  they  go;  but  as  a  dependence 
for  the  future,  unsupported  by  the  habit  of  honest,  useful  toil,  they 
will  prove  entirely  fallacious.  It  will  turn  out  with  them  as  with 
sick  bed  resolves,  which  usually  vanish  with  returning  health.  In 
her  efforts  to  reform  Newgate,  Mrs.  Fry's  first  exertions  were 


264 


PRISONS   AND   REFORMATORIES  OF   THE 


liM 


directed  to  the  introduction  of  useful  labor.  In  like  manner  the 
societ}',  of  which  she  was  the  most  distinguished  and  influential 
member,  paid  the  salary  of  the  first  female  oflScer  engaged  to  teach 
the  women  needlework  in  the  jail  of  Edinburgh.  The  reformed 
convict  must  support  himself  bj'  work  after  his  release.  His  labor 
will  come  into  competition  with  that  of  the  whole  laboring  com- 
munity. If  he  would  succeed  as  they  do,  ho  must  toil  as  they  do. 
He  will  have  to  be  up  as  early,  labor  as  unremittingly,  continue 
as  long  at  his  w^ork,  and  be  in  all  respects  as  regular  in  his  indus- 
try as  they,  or  he  will  find  himself  without  employment,  while  he 
sees  them  occupied.  All  this  he  will  never  do,  unless  the  lial)it  is 
formed  during  his  imprisonment.  It  is  in  prison  that  he  miist  be 
trained  up  in  the  way  he  should  go.  It  is  there  that  he  must 
become  accustomed  to  work  steadily,  diligently  and  strenuously 
from  eight  to  ten  hours  a  daj',  just  as  other  laborers  do,  or  he  Avill 
never  be  able  to  live  by  the  labor  of  his  hands  amid  the  sharp  and 
active  competitions  that  exist  among  the  toiling  millions  of  Amorica. 
4.  The  acquisition  of  a  trade.  Next  to  the  habit  of  steady,  un- 
remitted, persevering  labor,  the  most  important  acquisition  of  the 
convict,  as  aii  aid  to  self-support  after  his  liberation,  is  skill  in  his 
occupation,  a  mastery  of  the  business  in  which  he  is  engaged,  be 
it  what  it  ma}'.  The  ranks  of  criminals,  as  we  have  seen,  arc 
recruited  chiefly  from  the  class  of  persons  who  have  no  regular 
business,  and  especiiiUy  from  that  class  who  have  never  learned  u 
trade.  To  teach  a  convict  a  trade  is  to  place  him  above  want, 
that  is,  to  remove  from  Jiis  jiath  one  of  the  greatest  occasions  of 
crime.  Make  a  criminal  a  good  mechanic,  and  you  have  gone  far 
towards  making  him  an  honest  man.  The  true  doctrine  is,  that 
all  people  should  learn  to  help  themselves.  If  they  do  not  know 
how,  the  best  service  we  can  do  is  to  teach  them.  A  convict 
learning  a  trade  is  mastering  the  art  of  self-help.  He  focls  that 
he  is  doing  something  for  himself  As  a  consequence,  he  h  filled 
with  hope;  he  is  in  better  temper;  his  spirits  arc  cheerful  and 
buoj-ant.  This  state  of  mind  is  in  itself  a  reformative  agency,  and 
the  man  in  whom  it  is  found  is  much  more  likely  to  be  moially 
improved  by  his  incarceration  than  another  in  whom  hope,  alacrity, 
and  cheerfulness,  have  been  extinguished.  And  unless  a  prisoner 
acquire  both  the  habit  of  industry  and  the  knowledge  of  some 
handicraft,  that  is,  the  power  as  well  as  the  wish  and  purpose  to 
live  honestly,  he  will  be  eure,  sooner  or  later,  to  go  back  to  his 
old  criminal  practices. 


UNITED  STATES  AND  CANADA. 


265 


Now,  the  pursuit  of  the  prisoner's  reformation,  through  the 
agencies  above  enumerated,  is  a  work  in  which  time,  and  nt)  little 
amount  of  it,  is  an  essential  element.  It  is  at  this  point  that  the 
contract  system  infringes,  with  a  crushing  force,  upon  the  great 
work:  and  too  often  the  collision  proves  fatal  to  it.  Contractors 
have  no  interest,  per  se,  V)  the  reformation  of  prisoners.  Their 
interest  as  contractors  and«tho  interest  of  the  prison  as  a  reforma- 
tory institution  not  only  do  not  run  in  parallel  lines,  but  they  are 
rcpellant  and  antagonistic.  Let  any  changes  be  suggested  with  a 
view  to  giving  more  time  to  the  mental,  moral  and  industrial 
improvement  of  the  prisoners:  for  instance,  that  the  number  of 
religious  services  be  increased;  that  the  present  fragmentary  sys- 
tem of  secular  instruction  be  replaced  by  one  more  rational  and 
effective,  or  that  the  convicts  be  taught  a  complete  trade  instead 
of  such  snatches  thereof  as  are  now  commonly  imparted.  Sug- 
gestions of  this  sort  would  be  sure  to  be  met  with  the  olijection: 
"The  contractors  Avould  not  agree  to  such  an  arrangement;  they 
would  not  consent  to  such  an  abridgement  of  the  convict's  labor." 

Thus  does  this  system  of  prison  labor,  by  a  necessary  law,  by 
an  instinct  of  its  very  nature,  oppose  itself  to  all  those  great  and 
vital  foi'ccs  of  reformation,  except  the  simple  habit  of  industry,  by 
which,  if  at  all,  the  inmates  of  our  prisons  must  be  reclaimed, 
regenerated,  and  re-absorbed  into  the  mass  of  upright,  industrious 
and  honorable  citizens. 

Upon  the  whole,  it  is  our  settled  conviction  that  the  contract 
system  of  convict  labor,  added  to  the  system  of  political  appoint- 
ments, which  necessarily  involves  a  low  grade  of  official  qualifica- 
tion and  constant  changes  in  the  prison  staff,  renders  nugatory,  to 
a  great  extent,  the  whole  thoory  of  our  penitentiary  system.  In- 
spection may  correct  isolated  abuses;  philmithrOpy  may  relieve 
isolated  cases  of  distress;  and  religion  may  effect  isolated  moral 
cures;  but  genuine,  radical,  comprehensive,  systematic  improve- 
ment is  impossible. 


SECTION  TENTH. 

Finances. 

It  is  the  occasion  of  no   little  regret  to  the  commissioners,  Ihat 

we  arc  unable  to  give  much  reliable  information  on  this  important 

subject,  beyond  what  is  contained  in  the  preceding  section  rebiling 

to  the  prison  industries.    This  inability  is  due  to  two  causes.     In 


266 


PRISONS   AND   REFORMATORIES  OF    THE 


the  first  place,  the  wardens  of  nearly  all  the  prisons  who  responded 
to  our  printed  interrogatories,  w^ere  entirely  silent  on  the  depart- 
ment of  finance  ;  and,  in  the  sec"»nd  place,  the  matter  is  presented, 
in  the  annual  reports,  in  a  manner  so  complex,  confused  and 
obscure,  that  we  find  it,  in  the  majority  of  cases,  quite  impossible 
to  arrive  at  clear  and  satisfactory  results.  For  instance,  the 
warden  of  the  western  penitentiary.  Pa.,  says  :  "For  the  last  five 
years,  the  prison  has  been  self-sustaining,  with  a  snrplus,  at  the 
beginning  of  18G5,  of  about  $19,000."  On  turning  to  the  prison 
reports  for  the  three  last  of  those  j'cars,  which  are  all  in  our  pos- 
session, the  balance,  as  fur  as  we  can  understand  the  financial 
exhibit  contained  in  them,  seemed  to  be  on  the  other  side.  For 
one  of  said  years  (1862),  we  have  an  explicit  statement  of  the 
inspectors,  confirming  this  view.  A  committee  of  the  State  Senate 
was  appointed  in  1863  to  inquire  into  the  condition  and  manage- 
ment of  the  prison.  They  prepared  a  series  of  questions,  to  Avhich 
they  required  answers  from  the  authorities.  One  of  their  questions 
and  its  answer  were  as  follows  :  "  Question  13th.  What  has'been 
the  amount  of  yoxir  expenditures  in  the  last  year,  and  the  amount 
realized  from  different  sources  7  Answer.  In  our  last  annual 
report,  the  item  of  subsistence  of  prisoners  (for  1862)  was  $17,- 
153.64.  In  same  period  there  was  realized  by  convict  labor  the 
sum  of  $14,622.73."  This,  of  course,  would  leave  a  deficit  of 
$2,530.01.  It  must  be  remembered,  too,  that,  as  in  Pennsylvania, 
the  subsistence  of  the  prisons  is  a  charge  upon  the  counties,  the 
salaries  of  the  officers,  which  arc  paid  by  the  state,  are  not  included 
in  the  above  statement.  This  item  for  1862  was  $13,330.00,  which 
gives  a  total  of  expenditures  for  that  j'car  of  $30,483.64,  and  leaves 
a  total  deficit  of  $15,861.51 

The  manner  in  which  the  officers  are  apt  to  strain  a  point  in 
order  to  place  their  finances  before  the  public  in  as  favorable  a 
light  as  possible,  is  more  than  intimated  in  the  communication 
made  to  us  b}'  Mr.  Prentice,  warden  of  the  Ohio  state  penitentiary. 
To  our  question,  "Is  your  prison  sclt-sustaining?"  he  replies, 
"It  is  not."  Q.  "Has  it  ever  been?"  A.  "  The  rtnuua?  reports 
^how  that,  at  times,  it  has  been  fully  and  beyond  self-sustaining." 
Q.  "  If  such  is  the  fact,  why  has  it  ceased  to  be  self-sustaining  ?" 
A.  "The  faet  is  not  clear  that  it  has  ever  been  really  so."  It  is 
to  this  over-anxious  desire  of  prison  officers  to  make  the  best  pos- 
sible financial  exhibit,  that  we  attribute  the  involved  and  obscure 
methods  so  generally  adopted  in  keeping  the  prison  accounts. 


UNITED    STATES  AND   CANADA.  !                     267 

The  conipai'fttive  cai'iiings  and  expenditures  in  the  Ohio  prison, 
as  shown  by  the  reports,  for  ten  years,  are  as  folhnvs ; 

Year.                                                                                   Earnings.  Expenditures. 

1855 $67,935  34  $64,017  95 

1856 64,324  45  73,42140 

1857 - 70,667  85  73,774  43 

1858 62,700  76  79,850  90 

1859 83,456  28  77,516  36 

1860 - 97,905  60  97,610  26 

1861 92,823  11  100,125  28 

1862 73,07121  93,443  72 

18G3 83,260  73  98,177  10 

1864 85,264  96  103,309  17 

Total $781,410  27  $861,246  57 


The  aggregate  deficit  for  these  ten  years,  it  thus  appears,  was 
$79,836.30,  or  an  average  of  $7,983.63  per  annum.  The  average 
annual  cost  per  prisoner  for  these  ten  years  is  stated  at  the  enor- 
mous figure  of  $319.94,  which  seems  almost  incredible.  The 
present  building  has  been  occupied  since  1835.  The  aggregate 
earnings  during  thirty  years,  according  to  the  reports,  amounted 
to  $1,58^,863.07,  and  the  aggregate  ekpenditures  $1,500,639.07  ; 
being  an  excess  of  income  over  expenses  of  $86,224 

The  earnings  and  expenditures  of  the  Charlestown  prison  for 
the  last  tAvelve  years,  omitting  fractions  of  dollars,  are  as  follow.s: 

Year.  Earnings.  Expenditures. 

1855 $53,801  $67,759 

1856 55,077  62,749 

1857.. 53,599  68,297 

1858 51,425  69,533 

1859... 55,242  64,359 

1860 60,317  57,706 

1861 62,992  65,410 

1862 43,951  64,656 

1863 61,426  71,261 

1864 56,206  83,709 

1865 62,799  84,960 

1866 ,. 81,709  80,868 

Total $698,544  $841,267 


2G8 


PRISONS   AND  REFORMATORIES   OF   THE 


:  The  aggregate  deficit  for  these  twelve  years  is  seen  to  be 
$142,723  ;  the  average  annual  tleficit,  $11,893.  In  only  two  years 
Avas  there  a  surplus  of  earnings.  The  title  turned  first  in  18G0, 
only  to  recede  again  in  18G1.  Again,  it  changed  in  186(],  and  this 
time  the  change  is  likely  to  be  permanent,  new  contracts  at  greatly 
increased  rates  having  recently  been  made.  Mr.  Hayncs  estimates 
that  the  expenses  of  the  prison  for  18G7  will  he  $100,000,  and  tho 
earnings  $120,000;  giving  a  clear  profit  of  $20,000. 

The  state  prison  of  Connecticut,  during  the  forty  years  of  its 
existence  at  Wethersfield,  has  been  more  than  self-supporting, 
•with  the  exception  of  three  j'cars.  The  exception  occurred  during 
the  progress  of  the  late  civil  war,  and  was  due  to  two  causps; 
first,  to  the  very  high  pi  ice  of  every  article  consumed,  and  sec- 
ondly, to  the  fact  that  the  labor  of  the  convicts  had  been  let  for  a 
term  of  years,  prior  to  the  general  advance  in  prices,  including,  of 
course,  labor  as  well  as  merchandise.  During  the  first  twenty 
years  of  its  history,  under  the  administration  of  Moses  C.  and 
Amos  Pilsbury,  the  prison  realized  a  clear  profit,  in  round  num- 
bers, of  $100,000.  What  the  surplus  earnings  have  been  since  the 
younger  Pilsbury  retired,  we  are  not  informed. 

The  financial  management  of  the  New  Hampshire  state  prison 
has  been,  for  a  long  scries  of  j'cars,  eminently  successful.  In  nine 
years  preceding  and  including  1866,  with  an  average  number  of 
prisoners  rather  under  than  over  one  hundred,  the  aggregate  not 
gain  to  the  institution  from  the  labor  of  the  convicts  has  been 
about  ^20,000,  or  $2,325  a  year.  Only  one  year  was  there  a  defi- 
cit, and  then  it  was  only  to  the  trifling  amount  of  $471.68.  It  is 
probable  that  deficiencies  would  have  occurred  much  more  fre- 
quently, but  for  the  fact  that  a  portion  of  tlie  prisoners  are  not  let 
to  contractors,  but  labor  directly  for  the  prison,  in  the  maiuitac- 
ture  of  shoes  and  other  articles,  which  are  sold  and  thus  increase 
its  income.  It  is  estimated  by  Mr.  Mayo,  the  warden,  that  the 
profits  of  the  penitentiary,  during  the  financial  year  ending  May 
1st,  1866,  had  the  contract  system  been  discontinued,  would  have 
been  from  $12,000  to  $20,000,  whereas  the  actual  gain  was  less 
than  $1,000. 

The  admirable  financial  results  attained  in  the  Maine  state  piison, 
sinro  the  abolishment  of  the  contract  system,  have  been  stated  ia 
tlio  immediately  proceding  section.  Many  of  the  convicts  in  that 
piis(tn  are  earning  for  it  not  less  than  two  dollars  a  da}',  so  wc 
■were  assured  by  the  warden. 


UNITED  STATES  AND  CANADA. 


2G9 


The  prosperous  condition,  in  a  pecuniaiy  view,  of  the  Wisconsin 
penitentiary,  has  also  been  exhibited  in  the  same  section.  Of  the 
tinaiiccs  of  this  institution,  Mr  Commissioner  Cordicr  holds  this 
language:  "  The  prison  of  tlie  state  of  Wisconsin  has  been  in  ope- 
nition  since  1851.  My  predecessors  in  office  kept  no  account  of 
llie  earnings  of  the  prisoJiers.  I  am,  therefore,  not  able  to  say 
Avliat  the  average  annual  cost  per  pj-isoner  for  the  last  ten  years, 
or  for  the  whole  period,  has  been.  By  considering  the  following 
(igiircs,  however,  we  inay  judge  whether  or  n:)t  the  management 
of  tiiis  prison,  under  its  present  system  of  labor,  has  been  economi- 
cal and  profitable,  and  conducted  to  the  best  interest  of  the  state. 
The  Legislature  has  appropriated  in  all,  for  prison  construction, 
improvements  and  current  expenses,  the  sum  of  $525,82().  The 
present  estimated  value  of  grounds  and  buildings  is  $436,000; 
consequently,  the  actual  cost  to  the  state  for  the  support  of  her 
convicts  for  fourteen  years,  would  be  only  $89,826,  or  a  trifle 
more  than  $6,400  per  year.  It  should  be  taken  into  consideration 
tliiit  the  average  number  of  convicts  employed  on  productive  labor 
amounted  to  only  eighty  per  year;  that  we  have  been  all  the  time 
without  machinery  in  our  workshops,  and  that,  in  short,  this  insti- 
tution is  yet  in  its  infancy.  Under  these  circumstances,  the  results 
obtained  are,  I  think,  highly  satisfactory." 

The  average  number  of  convicts  in  the  eastern  penitentiary, 
Pennsylvania,  which  is  conducted  on  the  separate  plan,  from  1855 
to  1864  inclusive,  did  not  vary  materially  from  375.  Their  earn- 
ings during  those  ten  years,  including  the  work  done  for  the  pri- 
son, which  is  always  omitted  in  estimating  the  earnings  in  congre- 
gate prisons,  amounted  to  $201,331.  The  expenditures,  in  the 
siune  period,  on  account  of  subsistence,  were  273,289,  and  for  sala- 
ries, $178,705,  milking  an  aggregate  of  $451,994,  and  showing  an 
excess  of  expenses  over  income  of  $247,663. 

.     ,  SECTION  ELEVENTH. 

Se\tp:xces.    .  ,        ^  '. : , 

The  just  and  proper  duration  of  imprisoimient  for  a  violation 
of  the  laws  of  society,  is  one  of  the  most  complex,  difficult  and 
perplexing  questions  in  jurisprudence.  The  law  usually  ^fixcs  a 
minimum  and  maximum  for  the  period  of  incarceration;  but  there 
is  for  the  most  part,  a  broad  interval  ])etweenthe  two  extremes,  so 
that  a  wide  discretion — perhaps,  upon  the  Avhole,  too  wide — is 
left  to  the  courts  in   determining  the  length  of  each   individual 


ii  Jit  J 


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270 


PRISONS  AND  REFORMATORIES  OF   THE 


sentence.  We  have  been  informed  by  an  eminent  member  of  (he 
bar  of  Baltimore,  now  decea»ecl,  that  he  had  known  a  man  to  bo 
sentoncnd  to  the  Mary  hind  penitentiary  ten  years  for  stealing  a 
piece  of  calico,  not  worth  more  than  ten  dollars,  and  another  niuti 
to  be  sentenced  for  only  ten  years  to  the  same  prison,  who  hud 
committed  an  atrocious  murder.  Surely,  such  inequalities  arc 
beyond  all  bounds  of  reason;  and  they  suggest  the  necessity,  or 
at  least  the  propriety,  of  confining  judicial  discretion  within  nar- 
rower limits  in  aiSxing  the  penalties  to  different  offences. 
.  Both  on  our  tour  of  inspection,  and  in  their  written  communi- 
cations, not  a  few  of  the  wardens  complained  to  us  of  these 
inequalities,  as  tending  to  exjusporate  and  disheai'ten  prisoners,  and 
thus  to  affect  injuriously  the  discipline  and  reformatory  power  of 
the  prisons. 

Mr.  Rico,  of  Maine,  observes  on  this  subject.  •*  There  is  very 
great  variation  between  the  terms  of  sentence,  awarded  for  the 
same  offence  b^'  different  judges,  and  even  by  the  same  judge  at 
different  times.  Thus,  two  brothers,  convicted  of  larceny  undci" 
circimistances  of  about  equal  aggravation,  were  sentenced  by  dif- 
ferent judges — one  of  them  for  one  year,  and  the  other  for  six. 
Again,  of  four  persons  convicted  of  manslaughter, '  one  has  ten 
years,  another  five,  another  two,  and  the  fourth  only  one;  and  yet 
the  last  is  the  worst  case  of  the  four." 

Mr.  Cordier,  of  Wisconsin,  says:  "There  is  a  great  difference 
in  the  length  of  sentences  awarded  b}-  different  judges  for  the 
same  offence.  For  instance,  three  men  were  convicted  of  foigery. 
One  of  them  forged  a  check  for  some  $3,000;.  was  found  guilty; 
and,  though  this  was  his  third  offence,  was  sentenced  to  l)ut  four 
years'  imprisonment.  The  secorid  forged  a  note  for  eleven  dol- 
lars (his  first  offence),  and  was  also  sent  for  four  years.  The  third 
forffcd  a  check  for  several  thousand  dollars  on  a  bank  in  Milwau- 
kie,  and  was  only  sentenced  to  one  year's  imprisonment.  Another 
illustration:  Two  men  Avere  convicted  of  larceny.  One  stole  some 
clothes  (his  third  offence),  and  was  sentenced  to  six  months'  im- 
prisonment in  the  state  prison.  The  other  who  had,  up  to  the 
time  of  his  arrest,  borne  a  good  character,  attempted,  in  a  drunken 
fit,  to  sell  a  saddle  belonging  to  his  employer;  for  which  attempt, 
on  conviction  thereof,  he  was  sentenced  to  two  years'  hard  laboi' 
in  the  same  prison." 

Mr.  Haynes,  of  M.vssachusetts,  on  this  question,  holds  the  fol- 
lowing language:    "  One  of  the  most  perplexing  matters  is  the 


UNITED   STATES  AND   CANADA. 


271 


inequality  of  sentences;  ciich  of  our  judges  appears  to  have  a 
stiindard  of  his  own  by  which  he  is  guided,  and  a  great  diversity 
of  opinion  seems  to  exist  among  them  upon  this  subject.  I  know 
it  is  impossible  so  to  regulate  sentences  that  equal  and  exact  jus- 
tice will  be  administered  in  each  individual  case,  as  crimes  of  the 
same  class  vary  so  much  in  the  aggravation  attending  them.  I  do 
not  wish  to  be  understood  as  favoring  either  of  the  extremes,  but 
simply  to  point  out  the  fact,  and  the  influence  it  has  upoii  the 
discipline  of  the  prison.  To  illustrate  this  point,  I  would  refer  to 
the  sentences  for  passing  counterfeit  money,  the  aggravation  in 
such  cases  being  only  in  the  amount  passed,  or  in  the  reputation 
of  the  one  passing  it. 

"Of  those  in  the  prison  at  the  present  time  for  passing  one  coun- 
terfeit bill,  the  sentences  vary  from  one  to  five  years;  for  the 
passing  of  two  bills,  from  two  to  ten  years.  We  have  one  man 
here  who  plead  guUty  to  passing  three  counterfeit  five  dollar  bills, 
who  was  •sentenced  to  fifteen  years;  another  who  plead  guilty  to 
passing  four  twenty  dollar  bills,  who  was  sentenced  to  but  four 
years;  one  man,  for  having  in  his  possession  ten  counterfeit  bank 
bills,  was  sentenced  to  one  year;  another,  for  the  same  offcice,  to 
twelve  years.  These  men  may  work  near  each  other,  and,  of 
course,  learn  the  facts,  and  it  can  be  easily  imagined  that  great 
dissatisfaction  would  be  engendered,  and  our  discipline  suffer  in 
consequence.  No  logic  can  convince  a  man  that  justice  requires 
him  to  serve  fifteen  years  here  for  passing  fifteen  dollars  in  bad 
money,  when  his  neighbor  serves  but  four  for  passing  eighty, 
everything  else  being  equal.  Scarcely  a  week  passes  that  I  am 
not  appealed  to  in  regard  to  such  cases.  It  is  in  vain  for  mo  to 
say  that  I  am  not  responsible  for  it.  Many  of  these  men  are 
friendless,  and  naturally  look  to  me  for  advice  and  assistance." 

Dr.  Campbell,  of  Pensnylvania  (western  penitentiary),  remarks: 
"  To  the  officers  of  the  prison,  who  are  unacquainted  with  the 
commission  of  the  particular  crimes,  the  length  of  the  sentences 
seems  very  unequal.  For  example  :  "  It  is  not  long  since  that  a 
prisoner  was  discharged  after  serving  his  full  sentence  of  one  year 
for  horse-stealing;  while  to-day  (Sept.  12th),  three  men  were 
brought  in  under  sentence  of  five  years  each  for  the  same  offence." 

The  average  length  of  sentences  in  different  state  prisons  varies 
considerably ;  the  shortest  average  being  in  Wisconsin,  where  it 
is  about  two  years,  and  the  longest  in  Vermont,  where  it  is  nearly 
or  quite  seven  years.    In  Massachusetts,  the  average  duration  of 


271 


PRISONS  AND   REFORMATORIES  OF   THB 


imprisonment  Approaches  six  years  ;  in  New  York  and  Ohio,  it 
does  not  vary  much  from  three  and  a  half  ye^rs. 

The  testimony  of  the  officers  of  our  American  state  prisons — so 
fur  as  we  have  any  expression  of  opinion  from  them  at  all — is 
unanimous  to  the  effect,  that  an  imprisonment  of  ten  years  and 
upwards  breaks  doAvn,  physically  and  mentally,  the  greater  part 
of  those  who  are  subjected  to  it.  Mr.  Prentice  goes  so  far  us  to 
say  that  nearly  all  such  become  monomaniacs. 

Among  others,  we  put  the  following  question  :  ""Which  would 
be  likely  to  be  most  beneficial  to  convicts,  so  far  as  their  reforma- 
tion is  concerned — sentences  of  moderate  length,  with  the  certm'nti/ 
that  they  must  be  served  out,  or  sentences  of  greater  length,  with 
the  /tope  that  they  may  be  abridged  by  pardon?"  We  append  a 
few  of  the  answers. 

Mr.  Rice,  of  Maine:  "Sentences  of  moderate  length,  with  the 
certainty  that  they  must  bo  carried  out,  are  much  better  than  any 
others.  Give  a  young  man  a  ten  years'  sentence  for  a  crime,  com- 
mitted most  probably  under  the  influence  of  liquor,  and  it  takes 
uU  heart  out  of  him  ;  whereas  he  would  accept  a  five  years'  inipvi- 
sonmcnt  philosophically,  and  make  the  best  of  his  term.  The 
chances  of  his  reformation  are,  I  think,  much  better  in  the  latter 
case." 

Mr.  Haynes  :  "  Moderate  sentences,  with  certainty,  are  the  best." 

Mr.  Prentice  :  "  Short  sentences,  and  no  pardon,  are  better  than 
long  sentences,  and  hopes." 

The  Rev.  Mr.  Douglas's,  of  Vermont :  "  Short  sentences,  and  no 
pardon,  are  much  better  than  the  other  plan." 

Mr.  Miller,  of  Missouri  :  "  I  think  that  shoj-t  sentences,  with  the 
certainty  that  the  term  must  be  served  out,  would  bo  more  bene- 
ficial, especially  to  young  convicts,  than  the  other  plan.  But  I  am 
not  in  favor  of  a  system  that  shuts  out  all  hope  of  pardon,  as 
implied  in  the  former  of  the  two  alternatives  propounded.  I  have 
found  the  hope  of  pardon  to  have  a  powerful  influence  for  good  in 
making  prisoners  do  well  and  continue  to  do  so,  hoping  theroby 
to  make  friends,  who  raa^'  speak  a  word  in  their  favor  at  some  future 
time.  My  own  opinion  is,  that  the  only  restraint  necessary  (if 
there  be  any  necessary),  to  be  placed  on  the  pardoning  powci",  is 
to  require  the  governor  to  refuse  a  pardon  to  jdl  who  cannot  pro- 
cure a  certificate  of  good  conduct  fi'om  the  warden.  I  found  this 
plan,  voluntarily  adopted  by  Gov.  Gamble  and  Gov.  Hall,  to  be 
of  great  service." 


UNITED  STATES   AND   CANADA. 


273 


It  will  huix  siGU  observed  that,  in  the  judgment  of  state  prison 
ofliccrs,  moderate  sentences,  carried  out  with  certainty,  are  prefer- 
jihlo,  as  an  agency  in  reformation,  to  longer  sentences,  with  the  hope 
of  iwrdon  constantly  agitating  the  breast  of  the  convict,  and  ex- 
hmisting  those  energies  which  ought  to  bo  given  to  the  work  of 
his  own  amciulinent.  The  great  majority  of  state  prison  sentences 
arc  as  long  as  it  would  bo  desirable  to  make  them;  prol)ably  not 
a  few  are  quite  too  long.  Thus,  of  the  518  convicts  received  into 
the  Massachusetts  ptate  prison  in  18(50,  no  less  than  293,  or  nearly 
four-fifths,  Avere  sentenced  for  live  years  and  upwards;  135,  or 
nearly  one-fourth,  for  ten  years  and  over;  and  the  astounding 
number  of  42,  equal  to  onc-tifth  of  the  whole,  were  sentenced  for 
life  !  Of  the  1,45(J  admitted  into  tlic  male  state  prisons  of  New 
York  for  the  same  period,  37G,  nearly  one-fourth,  Avere  sentenced 
for  five  years  and  over;  while  119,  about  one-twelfth,  were  im- 
prisoned for  ten  years  and  upwards. 

But  there  are  other  classes  of  prisons — the  houses  of  correction 
or  penitentiaries  and  county  jails — in  which  the  major  part  of  the 
sentences  are  far  too  short  either  for  the  good  of  the  prisoner  or 
the  welfare  of  society.  The  undue  brevity  of  sentences  is  matter 
of  complaint  in  other  countries.  Thus,  we  learn  from  Mr.  F.  Hill's 
work  on  Crime,  that  the  average  period  of  imprisonment  in  Eng. 
land,  in  other  than  the  penal  servitude  prisons,  is  about  fifty  days, 
and  in  Scotland  about  forty;  while  in  the  prison  of  Edinburgh,  the 
greater  part  of  the  prisoners  remain  less  than  14  days  1  Even  this 
last  statement  is  almost  paralleled  by  what  happens  in  the  Erie 
county  penitentiary  of  our  own  state,  where  last  year,  out  of  1,768 
persons  committed,  1,149,  uearly-tAvo-thirds,  were  sent  under  sen- 
tences of  thirty  days  or  less.  In  the  Monroe  county  penitentiary, 
and  probably  also  that  of  Albany,  if  the  convicts  sent  from  the 
District  of  Columbia  are  excepted,  the  average  length  of  sentences 
is  about  four  months.  In  the  county  jails,  the  average  does  not 
exceed  much,  if  at  all,  two  months;  and  in  the  majority  of  cases, 
the  sentences  are  for  only  n  few  days.  The  class  of  prisoners 
known  as  "revolvers,"  that  is,  who  are  returned  to  prison  almost 
as  soon  as  they  arc  discharged,  is  very  numerous.  There  are 
criminals,  or,  more  properly  perhaps,  misdemeanants,  who  are 
committed  to  the  penitentiaries  and  common  jails  of  New  York, 
ten,  fifteen,  twenty  times  a  year.  On  our  visit  to  the  jail  in  Kings- 
ton, Canada,  we  asked  aji  old  woman  whom  we  saw  there,  how 


[Assem.  No.  35.] 


18 


274 


PRISONS  AND   BEFORMATORIES  OF   THE 


many  times  she  had  been  in  jail?     "Oh,"  snitl  Hhc,  "  the  times  nic 
uncountnl)h>,'" 

The  insufficiency  of  these  short  terms  of  iniprisonnient,  how- 
ever often  repeated,  to  produce  any  permanent  good  cfl'ect  upon 
tho  character  of  the  imprisoned,  nmst  he  apparent  on  the  lenst 
reflection.  On  no  8»d)ject  are  tho  superintendents  of  prisons  nioro 
gcncralh'  agreed,  or  more  earnest  in  their  convictions,  thanonthc^ 
utter  futility  and  Avorthlessness  of  such  imprisonments.  Ami 
Avith  trood  reason  do  thev  so  believe  and  hold.  For  1.  Those 
short  periods  of  continemont  have  the  effect  to  demorab'ze  tlie 
prisoners  and  make  them  reckless  of  punishment.  Indeed,  Iho 
chief  tendency  is,  through  the  temporary  check  put  on  their  pas- 
sions and  tho  vigor  received  from  wholesome  diet,  to  stinudatc 
their  criminal  propensities  and  impart  increased  power  to  do  mis- 
chief on  their  discharge.  2.  They  liave,  and  in  tho  nature  of 
thinijs  cannot  but  have,  a  discouraging  influence  on  tho  officer!?. 
Their  effect  is  to  weary  out  the  very  lieart,  from  utter  despair  of 
doing  the  prisoners  au}'^  good,  making  them  callous  and  indiilVr- 
ent  to  their  condition,  and  exhausting,  on  a  round  of  petty  ant' 
useless  services,  the  strength  and  spirits  which  are  required  fov 
more  important  duties.  3.  The  indirect  expense  to  society,  occa- 
si(med  by  these  continual  re-ari'csts,  prosecutions  and  convictions, 
and  still  more  in  the  amount  of  property  stolen  in  tho  intervals 
between  the  imprisonments,  is  enormous,  and  may  well  ploud  for 
a  change  in  the  system.  4.  Tin;  practice  of  short  imprisonments 
is  fatal  to  anything  like  reformatory  treatment.  It  is  impossible 
even  fairly  to  initiate  a  reformation  during  u  detention  of  a  few 
Aveeks  or  months,  to  say  nothing  of  carrying  it  out  to  its  normal 
results.  The  first  thing  necessary  to  change  tlie  modes  of  thought 
and  feeling  in  a  criminal,  to  improve  his  habits,  to  elevate  his 
character,  and'  to  make  him  an  honest  man,  is,  that  he  be 
certain  that  he  is  cut  off  for  a  considerable  length  of  time 
from  his  former  associations  and  practices.  If  he  bo  sentenced 
to  an  imprisomnent  of  but  a  month  or  six  weeks,  or  indeed  any- 
thing short  of  six  months  or  a  year,  he  Avill  not  give  a  thought  to 
any  change  in  the  plan  and  habit  of  his  life;  he  will  thiidc  only  of 
the  number  of  days  that  nuist  pass  away  before  he  can  be  restored 
to  his  old  lil)erty  of  action.  We  are,  therefore,  of  the  opinion 
that  such  a  reform  in  our  criminal  laws  is  necessary  as  Avill,  on 
subsequent  convictions,  raise  the  nuiximum  of  punishment,  and 
that  by  great   advances.      When  a  person,  by  repeated  petty 


UNITED   STATES   AND   CANADA. 


275 


otlonscs,  evinces  a  proclivity  to  crime,  his  term  of  imprisonment 
^hr)ul(l  be  made  so  long  that  idle  and  vagrant  luihits  may  ho 
broken  up,  and  replaced  by  habits  of  industrious  and  steady 
liibor.  We  look  upon  sentences  of  considerable  length  as  abso- 
lutely essential  to  tin  reform.i^ion  of  prisoners,  while  short  ones 
wc  regard  as  not  useless  merely  ,  but  as  having  a  decidedly  mis- 
( liievous  tendency  in  many  ways. 

r)Ut  this  whole  question  of  prison  sentences  is,  in  our  judgment, 
one  which  requires  careful  revision.  Not  a  few  of  the  best  n»inds 
in  Europe  and  America  have,  by  their  investigations  and  reflec- 
tions, reached  the  conclusion  that  time  sentences  are  wrong  in 
principle;  that  they  should  I>e  abandoned;  a^rtT  that  reformation 
sentences  should  be  substituted  in  their  place.  Among  the  advo- 
cates of  this  view,  abroad,  we  may  mention  Mv.  Conunissioner 
Matthew  Davenport  Hill,  for  nearly  thirty  years  recorder  of  Bir- 
mingham, and  one  of  the  ablest  criminal  judges  of  Great  Britain; 
.'.11(1  his  brother  Frederick  Hill,  for  many  years  inspector  of  i)risons 
In  England  and  Scotland,  and  the  author  of  a  judicious  and  valu- 
able treatise  under  the  title  of  "Ci'ime:  its  Amount,  Causes,  and 
Kemedies," 

Mr.  Commi-ssioner  Hill  thus  delivers  himself  on  this  subject,  in 
a  charge  to  the  grand  jury  of  Birmingham,  in  1855:  "Gentlemen, 
if  you  desire,  as  I  most  earnestly  do,  to  .see  this  principle  [that  of 
allowing  convicts  to  earn  a  diminution  of  sentence  by  good  con- 
(liictj  universally  adopted,  you  must  be  prepared  to  strengthen 
the  hands  of  government,  by  advocating  such  a  chanjfo  in  the  law 
as  will  enable  those  who  administer  the  criminal  justice  of  the 
country  to  retain  in  custody  all  such  as  arc  convicted  of  crime, 
until  they  have,  by  reliable  tests,  demonstrated  that  they  have  the 
will  and  the  power  to  gain  an  honest  livelihood  at  large.  You 
must  l)e content  that  they  shall  be  retained  until  habits  of  industry 
iU'o  formed — until  moderate  skill  in  some  useful  occupation  is 
iioquired — until  the  great  lesson  of  self-control  is  mastered — in 
short,  until  the  convict  ceases  to  be  a  criminal,  resolves  to  fultill 
Iiis  duties  l)oth  to  God  and  to  man,  and  has  surmounted  all  obsta- 
cles against  carr^'ing  such  resolutions  into  successful  action.  But 
.s  no  training,  however  enlightened  and  vigilant,  will  produce  its 
intended  effects  on  every  individinil  subjected  to  its  discii)line, 
'.vhat  are  we  to  do  with  the  incurable?  Gentlemen,  we  nuist  face 
this  question;  we  must  not  flinch  from  answering,  that  we  propose 
to  detain  them  in  prison  until  they  are  released  by  death.     You 


276 


PRISONS    ARD   REFORMATORIES  OF    THE 


keep  the  nxiniac  in  a  priHon  (which  yoii  cull  an  uoyhnn)  uiidor 
f^iniiliir  condition'^;  you  guard  agaiiiist  his  cHcapc  until  he  is  taken 
from  you,  either  because  he  is  lestcu'cd  to  sanity,  or  has  deparlcd 
to  another  world.  It',  <;entlcnieK,  innocent  niisfortiniu  may  and 
must  he  8o  treated,  why  not  thuf.  deal  with  incorri«fil)Ic  depravity? 
This  is  a  ({ucstion  which  I  have  asked  times  out  of  number,  with- 
out ever  being  so  f(»rtunate  as  to  extiact  a  reply.  It  is  uhv(iy>, 
tacitly  assumed  that  imprisonment  nnist  not  he  perpetual;  hnt 
whether  that  assumption  is  founded  on  any  reason  suppose<l  to 
arise  out  of  the  nattiro  of  things,  or  whelher  it  only  rests  on  the 
present  state  of  public  feeling,  I  know  not.  If  the  former  ground 
is  taken,  I  would  give  nuich  to  learn  what  the  argument  is;  when 
disclosed,  I  must  either  answer  it  or  yield  to  it;  but  while  I  am 
kept  in  the  dark,  eacli  alternative  is  barred  against  me.  W,  how- 
ever, this  assumctl  iuadmissil>ility  of  pcrpetmil  imprisonment  is 
rested  on  the  present  state  of  public  sentiment,  I  have  seen  too 
often  the  change  from  wrong  to  right  in  that  mighty  power,  Ic 
despair  of  its  becoming  an  ally  instead  of  an  opponent.  It  is  my 
belief  that  if  long  terms  of  imprisonment,  even  to  perpetuity, 
were  placed  before  the  public  mind  as  indissolubly  connected 
with  the  privilege  to  the  convict  of  working  out  his  own  redemp- 
tion from  thraldom,  by  proving  hin)solf  tit  for  liberty,  it  would 
require  no  great  lapse  of  time  to  produce  the  change  in  opinion 
which  I  contemplate.  Alarm  on  the  score  of  expense  ought  not 
to  be  entertained,  for  two  reasons.  First,  because  no  unreforniocl 
inmates  of  a  prison,  however  extravagant  its  expenditure  may  be, 
cost  the  comnumity  so  nnich  as  they  would  do,  if  at  large.  This 
fact  has  been  so  often  proved  that  I  nmst  be  allowed  to  assuuK;  it 
as  undeniable.  But  the  second  rcas(>n  is  that  prisons  may  be  niade 
either  altogether,  or  to  a  very  great  extent,  self-supporting." 

The  charge,  from  which  the  above  extract  is  taken,  provoked  it 
very  general  discussion  in  the  public  press  of  Great  Britain.  Most 
of  the  proniincpt  pjipers  of  the  realm  had  leading  articles  on  the 
subject.  The  London  Times  thus  expresses  its  judgment:  "  Wc 
believe  it  will  be  found  the  cheapest  and  uiost  i)olitic  course,  as 
well  as  the  most  humane,  to  leave  no  stone  unturned  to  bring 
about  the  reformation  of  the  criminals,  and  not  to  disc/ian/e  Ihou 
upon  aociety  until  they  are  reformed.  h\  desperate  cases,  avc  must 
even  acquiesce  in  the  conclusion  of  iniprisonmcnt  for  life."'  Tlie 
Spectator,  one  of  the  ablest  and  most  influential  journals  in  Eng- 
land, emphatically  indorses  the  view  of  Mr.  Hill  and  the  Timo>*. 


UNITED   STATES    AND    CANADA. 


277 


"Their  ilctcntion,"  it  oh.seivos  (that  is,  tho  (Ictontioii  of  criiniiials 
till  their  cii  !•(!),  "would  )>t'  jiistifiod  M|i()n  tho  sumo  ;;r<)mul.s  llmt 
jiistily  ihe  detiMitioii  of  the  insane.  Afs  l(»n<jr  iis  they  arc  criiiiinally 
disposed  ley  arc  (morally)  insane,  and  should  l>e  in  Mafo  cuntody. 
A»  ««)<>'>  an  they  have  ceased  to  bo  eriniiuidly  disposcti,  and  become 
(liMi)oscd,  like  ordinary  people,  lo  earn  tlicii  llvclihotxl  in  an 
honest  way,  they  are  cured  of  their  in>;ini(y,  and  may  nuMy  j;o  at 
iar^ze."  The  same  paper  <(ocs  on  to  say:  "The  conclusions  wliich 
uc  arc  enforcing  havo  been  conceded,  weighed,  yet  aside  for  after- 
tlidiight,  re-examined,  sifk'il,  reduced  to  their  best  working  form, 
iind  at  last  consistently  advocated  b}'  some  of  tho  most  influential 
men  of  all  parties,  in  this  country  us  well  as  in  France.  )Vc  havo 
had  meetings  on  the  continent  and  in  England;  and  within  tho 
liist  fortnight,  besides  tho  conference  of  tho  friends  of  reformatory 
iliscii)linc  at  Birmingham,  we  have  had  Mr.  DeniQlz,  of  Mettray, 
addressing  friends  at  Bristol  on  tho  subject,  and  an  aduurablc 
tuldre  is  by  Mr.  M.  1).  Hill  lo  the  grand  jury  at  Birmingham.  By 
Ocgr.cs,  no  doubt,  these  earnest,  consistent  jmd  laborious  reform- 
ers are  gaining  ground;  they  havo  established  their  case  clearly 
on  the  grounds  of  logic  and  practical  experience ;  they  aro 
obstructed  by  nothing  but  that  inherent  laziness,  which  continues 
tho  influence  of  bad  laws  in  keeping  up  tho  number*  and  force  of 
the  criminal  part  of  the  population.  It  is  thus  shown  as  clearly 
!isit  is  possible  to  establish  an}'  social  fact,  that,  monsters  and  acci- 
iloiits  excepted,  we  nnght  cut  otf  the  larger  part  of  the  supply  of 
criminals,  and  remove  the  large  portion  of  permanent  criminals 
from  society;  but  .society,  too  lazy  to  go  into  tho  detail,  unwilling 
to  take  tho  rcsponsil)ility  Mhich  a  conviction  thus  worked  out 
could  alono  justify,  again  compromises  the  question  with  adult  as 
well  as  juvenile  otTcndors.  and  in  lion  of  detaining  the  culprit 
until  he  has  proved  his  cine,  decermlncs  that  he  shall  be  sentenced 
to  an  imprisonment  for  a  definite  period,  as  if  we  said  to  a  man 
laboring  under  insanity-,  or  under  any  infectious  disease,  you  shall 
go  to  tho  doctor's  for  two  months,  then  to  be  driven  forth  upon 
society,  cured  or  uncured." 

Tho  following  extracts  from  Mr.  F.  Hill's  work  on  Crime  will 
show  tho  views  entertained  by  him  on  this  important  question: 
"The  leading  principle  of  the  criminal  law  of  Britain,"  he  observes, 
"  like  that  of  most  other  countries,  as  I  understand  it,  is  lo  deter 
from  crime  by  awarding  punishment  for  different  offences,  in  pro- 
portion to  their   magnitude.     The  objections  to  this  principle 


l!l>  I 

ill 


.ill     ! 


il   ? 


i! 


t; 


1   M     ' .  " 

i  : ' 

i  i  ■  i 

urn 

,  -■■ 

f     '--i  _ , 

||!     i 

278 


PRISONS  AND   REFORMATORIES   OF    THE 


appear  to  be  insunnountable.  It  is  impossible  to  carry  it  out  witii 
auythiiijr  like  accuracy,  o^viiig  to  the  infinite  variety  of  circuin- 
stanccfj  Avhicli  increase  or  diniiiiish  the  guilt  ajjpertaining  even  ti 
the  very  same  act,  or  whicii.  indeeil,  make  the  commission  of  |. 
coniparativel}'  small  ollbnce  really  more  culpable,  sometimes,  tli.'ii'. 
that  of  a  great  oftence.  *  *  *  But  even  if  it  were  possil)lo  to 
draw  up  a  list  of  oHences  according  to  their  real  turpitude  and 
their  injury  to  society,  and  to  pi-cpare  a  corresponding  scale  of 
punishment,  it  appears  to  me  that  it  would  not  be  wise  to  act  on 
such  a  system.  The  ol)ject  of  punisjiment  being  the  prevention  of 
crime,  that  punishment  cannot  be  well  fitted  for  its  [)urpose  Avliicli. 
after  its  infliction  has  terminated,  allows  an  offender  to  be.let  loose 
again  on  society  Avithout  regard  to  the  cause  of  his  offence,  or  tlio 
fact  wlielhcr  such  cause  has  been  been  removed.  *  #  *  #  j 
maintain  that  the  natural  consequence  of  crime,  in  the  withdrawal 
of  the  offender  from  the  privilege  of  mixing  with  societ3%  which  Jio 
has  al)Used,  and  his  confinement  until  he  be  safely  restored,  more 
fully  carries  out  this  principle  of  punishment  than  almost  am 
other  plan  that  coidd  be  proposed,  for  in  proi)ortion  to  the  lengtl. 
of  the  habit  of  crime  and  heinousness  of  the  offences  conunittod, 
would,  in  general,  be  the  period  necessary  for  eficcting  a  cure,  tuul 
consequently  the  duration  and  amount  of  the  punisluncnt. 

"AVhelher,  therefore,  we  try  (o  suppress  crime  by  the  mere  inflic- 
tion of  punishment  according  to  the  number  and  magnitude  of  tlu 
offences  committed,  or  whether  we  try  to  stop  it  by  cin-ing  tlu' 
criminal,  oi'.  where  com[)lete  cure  is  impossible,  by  improving  lilm 
to  the  greatest  iiossible  extent,  the  natural  and  self-re<»ula(iiiu 
punishments  which  God  has  instituted  and  pointed  out  ap[)ear  tc 
be  the  best  and  most  accurately  adapted  for  securing  that  llic 
amount  of  punishment  shall  be  in  proportion  to  the  offence  com- 
mitted, 

"But  who  is  to  determine  the  fact  of  cure,  and  who  the  precise 
means  by  which  a  cure  is  to  be  «'flected?  I  would  submit  that 
those  only  are  fully  qualified  to  do  this  who  are  entrusted  with 
the  charge  of  the  oll'ender  ;  who  have  time  to  study  his  cliariiclcr 
and  to  watch  the  effect  <»f  th(!  different  influences  brought  to  Iitiii' 
upon  him  in  the  formation  of  new  habits;  and  who  have  opijoi- 
tuniiicsof  gradually  lelaxing  the  .-ysteju  of  discipline  and  of  Irv- 
ing the  new  powers  of  their  nuiral  patient  to  resist  those  tempta- 
tions to  which  lu'  would  be  exposed  on  his  return  tc  society. 

"  >io  one  thiuks  of  sending  a  madman  to  a  lunatic  asylum  tor  a 


UNITED  STATES  AND  CANADA. 


279 


certain  mimbor  of  tluys,  weeks  or  months.  AA"c  content  ourselves 
with  ciircfiilly  ascertaining  that  he  is  unlit  to  he  at  large,  and  that 
those  in  whose  hands  we  are  about  to  place  him  act  under  duo 
inspection,  and  have  the  knowledge  and  skill  Avhich  afford  the  best 
liope  for  his  cure  ;  tliat  thej'  will  be  kind  to  him,  and  inflict  no 
more  pain  than  is  necessary  for  his  secure  custody  and  the  removal 
of  his  malady  ;  and  we  leave  it  for  them  to  determine  when  he 
can  safely  be  liberated. 

"Perhaps  it  may  idtimately  be  found,  hy  cautious  experiment, 
that  a  somewhat  siinihu-  process  may  be  safe  and  expedient  in  the 
treatment  of  criminals  ;  and  that  while  it  is  still  left  to  the  courts 
of  justice  to  determine  on  the  guilt  or  innocence  of  the  accused, 
;uk1  on  the  necessity  of  their  withdrawal  from  society,  it  may  be 
u-is<i<nied  to  those  entrusted  more  or  less  directlv  with  the  reforma- 
tory  treatment  to  dotcrmine  the  time  of  release  ;  subject,  however, 
to  a  most  competent,  well-api)ointed,  careful  and  responsible  super- 
vision and  control,  such  as  onght  to  be  invariablj'  exercised  in  tlie 
case  of  mad-houses,  and  subject  to  the  proviso,  that  no  amount  of 
•"Ubsequent  good  conduct  should  be  considered  sufficient  to  war- 
rant the  liberation  of  a  person  who  had  once  been  guilty  of  delibe- 
rate murder. 

•'  Such  a  nu)do  of  proceeding,  however,  even  if  attainable,  must 
i)e  approached  by  slow  degrees;  partly  l)ecause  it  is  the  spirit  of 
English  improvement  (and  happy  for  tiie  countiy  that  it  is  so  !)  to 
[irooeed  cautiously  and  deb'berately,  ascertaining  the  consequences 
of  each  step  before  venturing  on  tiie  next :  and  partly  because  it 
j<ecms  essential  to  the  successful  operation  of  a  law,  especially  in 
this  countiy,  that  it  should  not  only  be  wise  and  just,  but  that  it 
biiould  be  approved  of  by  the  great  body  of  the  intelligent  and 
well  informed  among  the  people  ;  who,  however,  with  a  sufficient 
allowance  of  time  for  inquiry  and  reflection,  never  fail  to  give 
their  sanction  to  what  is  really  good." 

Our  own  convictions  arc  well  and  forcibly  expressed  by  the  several 
writers,  from  whom  we  have  taken  the  foregoing  extracts.  When 
a  man  has  been  convicted  of  a  crime — burglary,  arson,  forger}-,  or 
any  other — we  would  have  the  judge  address  him  somewhat  after 
this  manner  :  John  Doe,  you  have  wickedly  broken  one  of  the 
just  and  necessary  law.s  of  society.  You  have  shown  yo\irself  to 
"c  a  dangerous  man,  untit  to  go  at  large.  You  must  be  separated 
tVom  your  fellows.  You  nnist  sutler  the  penalty  which  tlie  law 
has  righteously  annexed  to  transgression.     You  must  be  made  to 


280 


PRISONS   AND  REFORMATORIES   OP    THE 


I'     if:] 


i       1 


feel  that  the  "way  of  the  tr!ms<j;ress()r  is  liiirtl.  You  must  he  shut 
up  iu  prison,  iiiul  rcnmin  there  until  you  give  evidenec  that  you 
are  a  changed  man  and  can  he  safely  permitted  again  to  enjoy 
your  freedom.  In  thus  dealing  Avith  you,  society  has  no  resent- 
ments to  gratify,  no  vengeance  to  inllict.  It  is  for  your  good,  as 
Avell  as  for  her  safety,  that  she  so  alHicts  you.  You  nuist  he  pun- 
ished for  what  you  have  done  ;  but  while  you  are  in  prison,  wo 
will  give  you  every  chance  to  recover  yourself.  Nay,  more  ;  we 
will  help  you  iu  that  work.  If  you  are  ignorant,  we  will  teach 
j'ou  ;  we  will  give  you  an  opportunity  of  learning  in  the  prison 
school  what  you  ought  to  have  learned  in  the  common  school.  If 
you  never  learned  a  trade,  we  will  put  you  in  possession  of  one. 
If  religious  truth  was  withheld  from  you  in  childhood,  you  shall 
be  made  acquainted  with  it  in  your  adult  age.  We  will,  throngii 
these  various  agencies,  impart  to  you  the  power,  and  Ave  Avoukl 
fain  hope  the  dis|)osition,  to  earn  and  to  eat  honest  bread.  But 
you  must  Avork  Avith  us.  Your  Avill  nuist  be  in  accord  Avith  ours; 
your  eiforts  must  tend  in  the  same  direction.  There  nmst  be,  on 
your  part,  a  real  anil  a  hearty  co-oi)eiati()n  Avith  us.  On  this  con- 
dition alone  can  you  attain  that  radical  reformation  of  character, 
to  which  Ave  Avish  to  bring  you,  and  the  attainment  of  Avhich  is 
indispensable  to  your  liberation.  Until  you  show,  to  our  satislao- 
tion,  that  you  can  be  restored  to  freedom  with  safety  to  the  com- 
munity, your  imprisonment  nmst  continue  ;  and  if  you  never  give 
us  such  satisfaction,  then  you  nei'er  can  be  discharged ;  your 
imprisonment  Avill  be  for  life.  AVe  do  not  set  the  madman  free, 
till  he  is  cured  of  his  madness  ;  neither  can  Ave  safely,  or  even 
justly,  set  the  criminal  free,  till  he  is  cured  of  his  propensity  to 
crime.  As  the  security  of  society  and  the  good  of  the  lunatic 
re(iuire  that  his  continement  should  be  regulated  upon  this  princi- 
l)le  ;  so,  e(iually,  do  the  security  of  society  and  the  good  of  the 
criminal  demand  that  his  incarceration  should  be  adjusted  upon 
the  same  principle.  We  put  your  fate  into  your  own  hands  ;  and 
it  is  for  you  to  determine  the  period,  Avithin  certain  necessary 
limits,  during  Avhieh  the  restraint  upon  your  liberty  shall  continue. 
You  may  either  prolong  it  to  the  close  of  your  life,  or  restrict  it 
to  a  duration  Avhich  you  yourself  Avill  alloAV  to  be  but  reasonable 
and  just. 

Towards  the  main  conclusion  here  announced,  thinking  men. 
devoted  to  the  great  Avork  of  prison  reform,  have  been  struggling 
through  years  of  careful  study  and   patieut  reflectiou.    Iu  the 


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281 


foiutli  edition  of  his  Lectures  on  Political  Econoni}-,  publiHlicd  in 
1855,  Archbitihop  Whately  renuirks  :  '•  With  respect  to  every 
(sentence  of  confinement  to  Imrd  labor,  Avhether  at  the  treudwheel, 
or  of  any  other  kind,  Ave  would  venture  to  sujrgest  what  we  cannot 
consider  us  a  most  important  improvement,  viz.,  that  instead  of  n 
certain  period  of  (line,  a  convict  should  be  sentenced  to  a  certain 
tjuantity  of  ivoi'/c.  *  *  *  *  The  great  advantage  resulting  would  be, 
that  criminals  Avhose  habits  probably  had  previously  been  idle, 
Avould  thus  be  haliituated  not  only  to  labor,  Ijut  to  form  some 
agreeable  astioviatioa  (i.  e.,  the  thought  of  their  liberation)  with 
the  idea  of  labor.  Every  step  a  man  took  on  the  treadwheel,  he 
would  1)0  walking  out  of  [)rison;  every  stroke  of  the  spade  would 
be  cutting  a  passage  for  restoration  to  society." 

Captain  Machonchic,  the  great  pioneer  in  our  day  in  the  intro- 
duction of  new  and  better,  because  more  rational,  ^ivinciples  in 
prison  discipline,  also  reconuuends  the  ado[)ti()n  of  task  sentences 
instead  of  time  sentences.  By  his  system,  the  oifender  is  required 
to  accumulate  a  certain  number  of  marks,  to  be  given  as  a  reward 
for  work,  which  marks  may  be  forfeited  by  misconduct,  or  may  be 
expended,  if  the  prisoner  so  choose,  up  to  a  certain  point,  in  pro- 
curing extra  indulgences.  But  first  of  all,  his  very  living  must  be 
paid  for  by  these  marks,  for  in  prison  they  have  a  certain  money 
value;  and  it  is  onlv  the  balance  which  remains,  after  deductiuir 
the  sum  of  the  marks  forfeited  and  expended,  that  can  go  towards 
his  liberation.  The  same  principle  underlies  this  system  and  that 
which  we  here  reconmiend,  viz.,  that  the  duration  of  sentences  is 
lo  be  measured,  not  by  time  but  by  conduct.  This,  indeed,  is 
distinctly  recognized  hy  the  captain  in  his  General  Views  on  Con- 
vict Management,  where  he  adds,  as  an  argument  in  favor  of  the 
principle,  the  following  consideration:  "The  object  of  this  is  to 
make  good  conduct  a  steady  object  of  pursuit  to  all  prisoners,  if 
only  in  the  beginning,  as  an  indispensable  means  to  recover  their 
freedom;  and  the  habit  of  thus  considering  it  as  a  valuable  means 
will  gradually  give  it  value,  in  their  estimation,  as  in  itself  a 
desirable  end." 

SECTION  TWELFTH. 

Refokmation. 

Diligent  inquiry  was  made  by  the  undersigned,  both  when  visit- 
ing the  prisons  and  through  their  printed  interrogatories,  in  regard 
to  the  reformatory  results  reached  by  the  discipline  of  our  Ameri- 


n 

5;    iil 


\  '^      "I 

I  '<■ 

1 


>'.<■ 


\ 


282 


PRISONS  AND    REFORMATORIES   OP   THE 


m 


1^ 


can  prisons  as  at  i)vo.seiit  admiiiistorcd  ;  Uu(,  despite  our  diligciuc, 
tliejnl'onnation  ohfaiiied  was  rather  meaure  than  otherwise. 

Tlie  reformatory  inthit'nees  bronirht  to  hear  on  the  conviels,  arc 
the  usual  religious  serviecs  of  the  Sabhath  ;  Sunday-school  inslnic- 
tion  in  some  prisons  ;  a  certain  amount  of  pastoral  labor,  wheic 
resident  chaplains  are  employed;  tlut  pi-ison  libraries;  a  eerl'iiii 
degree — amounting  in  general  to  a  nuM'e  modicum — of  secniar 
instruction  by  teachers  ;  the  influence  of  hope,  so  far  as  that  eli'- 
ment  is  supplied  by  (he  coiimuilation  laws  of  such  sfalcs  as  liavc 
them:  in  a  few  prisons,  the  philanthropic  lal)ors  of  volunteer 
■workers  from  outside;  the  distribution  of  religious  tracts  ami 
papers  ;  the  Bible  furnished  to  every  convict,  Avho  is  willing  li) 
receive  it ;  regular  labor  ;  the  trade  tauglit,  alas,  to  butver}'  few  : 
and,  in  the  majority  of  prisons,  kind  and  humane  treatment,  espe- 
cially by  the  higher  officers. 

The  following  is  all  the  statement  •we  are  prepared  to  make  on 
the  subject  of  reconvictions.  In  Massachusetts,  the  percentage."  of 
reconvictions,  as  reported  to  us,  is  about  thirteen  ;  in  New  Hamp- 
shire, five  ;  in  Ohio,  six  and  an  eighth  :  in  Pennsylvania,  western 
penitentiary,  fourteen  ;  and  in  Wisconsin,  live  and  a  tenth.  "We 
have  no  information  on  this  [loint  from  other  prisons.  But  litlh; 
reliance,  for  practical  conclusions,  we  api)rehend,  is  to  bo  placed 
on  the  statistics  here  exhibited.  Crinn'nals  in  the  United  States 
are  continually  changing  their  jurisdiction,  so  that  of  the  numbei- 
of  inmates  in  a  given  i)rison  at  any  given  time,  it  is  impossible  to 
know  how  many  who  are  first  comers  there,  may  have  been  imjjri- 
soned  elsewhere  one.  two,  or  more  times.  Add  to  this,  that  just 
in  proportion  as  we  are  distant  from  the  period  of  the  first  crime, 
it  becomes  difficult  to  prove  t'>c  rcconnnittal ;  and  the  difficulty  is 
inci'cased  Avliere  men  chauire  their  abodes  incessantly,  Avheri- no 
records  are  kept,  and  especially  wheie  one  prison  administration 
is  so  frequently  rejjlaccd  l)y  another  as  is  the  case  in  many  of  our 
prisons.  There  are,  therefore,  many  sources  of  fallacious  infercnei" 
from  statistics  of  reconvictions  in  Ameriean  prisons,  however  the 
case  may  be  in  other  countries.  Still,  there  can  be  no  doubt  that 
the  proportion  of  reconnnittals  is  less  in  the  United  States  than  it 
is  in  most  European  countries.  On  this  sid)ject,  Mr.  Connnissioner 
Hill,  ill  a  letter  to  the  secretary  of  the  IVison  Association,  say.>  : 
"We  caimot  boast  of  so  small  a  [)roi)ortion  of  relapses  as  in  your 
prisons  ;  the  difi'erence  is,  indt'Ctl.  enoi  nious  ;  but  you  will  permit 
me  to  doubt  whether  your  superiority   is  due  to  your  prison  dJi- 


UNITED   STATES    AND   CANADA. 


283 


ciplinc.  I  may  l)o  mistaken,  but  I  cannot  attribute  it  to  such  a 
tauso.  To  me  it  appears  that  you  oAve  it  to  the  unspeakable 
advantii^e  you  have  over  us  in  tlic  hiu'li  value  of  labor,  skilled  and 
unskilled,  in  the  United  States.  Your  prisoners,  after  discharge, 
can  maintain  themselves  by  honest  means,  "witlj  far  less  difHcully 
than  is  encountered  by  ours  ;  who,  when  they  go  forth  from  the 
prison  gates,  have  to  encounter  a  severo  struggle,  lirst  to  obtain 
cini)loyment,  and  then  to  keep  it.  These  ditKeulties  are,  I  ti'ust, 
diminisliing  ;  but  they  are  still  such  as  to  nudce  the  disposal  of 
our  prisouers  a  work  of  trouble  and  anxiety." 

As  regards  the  evidences  of  reformation  shown  b}'  convicts,  avc 
have  but  little  testimony;  and  that  little  is  not  J)articularly  satis- 
factory. INIr.  Willai'd,  of  Connecticut,  s.'iys:  "  Some  convicts, 
when  discharged,  exhibit  good  ])roofs  of  reformation;  l)ut  tiio 
majority  give  none.*'  Mr.  Seaton.  of  Michigan,  remarks:  "The 
casos  of  reformation  are  few  and  far  between."  Dr.  Campbell,  of 
Pennsylvania  (western  penitentiary),  observes:  "Very  little 
evidence  of  reformation  is  given  by  convicts  either  before  or  after 
discharge."  Mr.  Prentice,  of  Ohio,  testities:  '-Many" — the 
proportion,  howcA'er,  is  not  stated,  and  therefore  wo  cannot  judge 
of  the  value  of  the  testimony — "many,  when  discharged,  i-eturii 
to  their  homes,  and  engage  in  the  pursuits  of  honest  industry. 
Their  conduct  is  generally  good."  Mr.  Cordier,  of  Wisconsin, 
gives  an  attestation  of  nuich  interest.  lie  says:  "  Tho.se  f)f  our 
discharged  convicts  whom  I  have  met" — and  it  will  be  remem- 
bered thiit,  in  his  travels  through  the  state,  he  fell  in  Avith  num- 
bers of  them — "were  Avorking  at  their  resi)ectivc  trades;  they 
Avere  sober,  honest,  industrious  men,  and  had  the  full  Ci>nti(lencc 
of  their  employers."  This  testimony  is  highly  gi-atifying.  Wo 
are  the  less  surprised  at  it  and  the  moi'e  ready  to  put  faith  in  it, 
i-'iiK'Q  Ave  know  that,  besfides  the  use  of  other  important  I'cforma- 
tory  agencies,  it  is  made  a  s[)ecial  [joint  in  the  discipline  of  the 
Wisconsin  prison  to  impart  the  full  knowledge  of  a  trade  to  every 
convict  Avho  remains  long  enough  to  acquire  it.  From  A^ermont, 
Ave  have  no  general  statement  concerning  the  reformation  of  pri- 
soi.ers:  but  au  isolated  fact  has  been  comnumicated  to  us,  at 
once  so  interc>tin<i'  and  so  honorable  to  the  actor,  that  avo  ai'c  con- 
strained  to  transcribe  it.  A  prisonei',  on  his  discharge,  enlisted 
in  thc^  army  and  received  five  hundred  dollars  l)ounty  money,  the 
Aviiole  of  which  he  used  to  pay  the  princi[)al  and  six  years'  inte- 
rest of  hisses  sustained  I)y  three  or  four  persons  through  Lis  ci'im- 


284 


PRISONS   AND   REFORMATORIES   OP    THE 


I       i 


;! 


inal  acts.  This  man  ocrtaiiily  gave  tlie  highest  possibhr  ovidoiicc 
tliat  the  work  of  I'efonnatiou  in  him  had  been  thorough  and  com- 
plete. 

As  regards  the  important  matter  of  aiding  convicts,  on  their 
liberation,  to  procure  situations  at  work  and  so  lielping  them  to 
stand  tirmly  to  any  resolutions  tiiey  may  have  formed  to  lead  a 
better  life,  we  have  little  to  report  that  is  enconi-agiiig.  "No 
ctl'orts  are  made  to  [)roetU'e  situations  for  discharged  convicts;" 
"there  is  no  system  employed  to  obtain  places  for  liberated 
prisoners''  —  "no  ell'orts  of  any  importance  have  l>een  made 
toward  procuring  situations  for  released  convicts  '* — "I  have  done 
nomdldnff  towards  procuring  situations  for  discharged  convicts  " — 
"  no  special  person  is  appointed  to  aid  discharged  convicts  in 
obtainiuiT  work;  officers  sometimes  interest  themselves  to  this 
end'" — such  is  the  t>Mior  arid  such  the  form  of  nearly  all  the 
answers  received  on  tiiis  point.  They  show  that,  in  the  case  of 
most  of  the  state  prisons  visileil,  either  nothing  at  all  is  done,  or 
nothing  on  system,  nothing  eU'ective,  to  extend  to  prisoners,  after 
their  release,  the  heli)  most  essential  in  their  struggles  towards  an 
honest  lite.  In  oidy  four  states  is  such  aid  given  systematically 
and  to  purpose.  These  arc  Pennsylvania,  New  York,  Massa- 
chusetts and  California. 

In  the  lirst  named  of  these  states,  this  duty  is  performed  by  the 
riiiladelijliia  Prison  Society,  the  oldest  and  most  venerable  oi-gani- 
zation  in  America,  looking  to  the  relief  and  reformation  of  prison- 
ers. The  ■inodns  opcraiuli  of  their  work  wc  learned  from  their 
secretary,  ^Ir.  John  J.  Lytic.  The  society  has  a  connnittee  oJi 
discharucd  convicts,  whose  duty  it  is  to  visit  every  convict  in  the 
eastern  penitentiary  previous  to  his  discharge,  and  to  ascertain 
from  him  his  necessities,  the  state  of  his  clothing,  where  he  pro- 
poses to  go  when  liberated,  what  are  his  wishes,  pros[)ects,  plans, 
ifcc,  ifec.  Having  thus  gained  the  needed  information,  the  com- 
mittee proceed  to  another  part  of  their  duty,  that  of  action. 
They  furnish  the  prisoner,  when  necessar}',  with  suitable  clothing; 
procure  railroad  tickets  to  send  him  to  his  friends,  if  he  so  desire; 
obtain  employment  for  him,  if  he  wishes  it,  and  it  is  practicable; 
and,  in  general,  give  such  counsel  and  assistance,  as  seem  suited 
to  his  need.  Every  convict  in  the  jirison,  on  the  eve  of  his  lil)era- 
tion,  had  been,  during  the  year  preceding  our  visit,  thus  iuteiro- 
gated,  advised  and  aided,  according  to  the  exigencies  of  his  indi- 
vidual case. 


UNITED  STATES  AND  CANADA. 


285 


The  Prison  Association  of  Now  York  performs  a  similar  service 
for  iliscli.'irged  convicts  in  this  slate.  The  general  agent  of  the 
society,  under  the  instructions  of  the  coinmittec  on  discharged  oon- 
victs,  receives  such  prisoners  on  their  lil)erati()n  as  need  and  desiro 
his  kind  ofKces;  furnishes  needful  clothing  to  the  deserving;  pro- 
cures temporary  board  in  respectable  families  for  such  as  require 
it,  taking  numbers  of  females  to  his  own  hoiise,  to  whom  his  wife 
])erl'orms  the  ofKce  of  matron;  ol)tains  situations  for  them;  pur- 
chases tickets  or  gets  free  passes  on  railroads  for  those  who  desire 
to  return  to  their  friends  at  a  distance,  or  go  to  work  in  the  coun- 
try; provides  tools  for  such  as  are  comptentto  start  in  business  for 
tlieuiselves,  and  can  be  trusted  to  that  extent;  and  [)crforms  other 
otlices  imnnnera1)le  of  kindness  and  philanthio[)y  to  this  and  other 
classes  of  the  fallen  and  unfoi'tunate,  particularly  those  arrested 
aad  lu'lil  tor  trial,  for  whose  benelitthe  Association  was  organized. 
Ill  this  way  the  society  has,  during  the  twenty-two  years  of  its 
existence,  provided  permanent  places  for  3,G77  liberated  prisoners, 
being  an  annual  average  of  1()7|  persons.  So  far  as  these  persons 
could  bo  traced,  after  coming  under  the  care  of  the  Association — 
and  correspondence  has  been  kept  up  with  u  large  proportion  of 
them,  sometimes  running  thiough  a  series  of  yeai's — they  have, 
almost  to  a  man,  done  well.  AVc  cannot  learn  that  more  than 
three  per  cent,  of  the  released  prisoners  so  cared  for  and  so  aided, 
have  ever  relapsed  into  crime.  Some  of  them  have  risen  to  emi- 
nence and  acquired  Avealth  as  merchants,  manufacturers,  master 
mechanics,  members  of  the  learned  [)rofessions,  &c.;  while  the 
mass,  with  growing  families  around  them,  have  been  and  are  earn- 
ing an  honest  competence  in  the  humbler  walks  of  life. 

Of  all  the  states  of  the  American  Union,  Massachusetts  alone 
has  established  a  "state  agency  for  discharged  convicts,"  and  em- 
ploys  a  public  officer,  whose  duty  it  is  made  by  law  "  to  counsel 
such  discharired  convicts  as  mav  seek  his  aid,  and  to  take  such 
measures  as  he  may  deem  proper  and  expedient  to  procure  emplo}-- 
niciit  for  such  of  them  as  may  desire  it,  by  corresponding  with 
jjcrsons  engaged  in  agricultural  and  mechanical  pursuits,  and  with 
benevolent  individuals  and  associations.''  His  general  method  of 
procedure  is  as  follows:  Being  oHicially  informed  when  such  and 
such  convicts  are  to  be  liberated,  he  visits  them  in  prison  some 
time  previous  to  their  discharge.  In  the  interviews  thus  stnight 
and  obfiiined.  he  learns  something  of  the  history  of  the  men,  their 
condition  in  the  past,  whether  or  not  they  have  homes,  and  if  so, 


286 


PRISONS  AND   REFORMATORIES   OP    THE 


where,  uiul  what  arc  their  wimts  aiul  winlios,  Avhcrchy  hi'  is  the 
better  ai)lo  to  devise  lit  means  for  their  relief  and  assistance.  IIu 
inqjiircs  Avhetiier  they  desire  liini  to  tind  situations  for  them,  or 
to  aid  them  in  any  oilier  way,  and  if  tliey  want  places,  in  wjiat 
part  of  the  country  and  at  what  business.  He  directs  (ivery  one 
who  wishes  his  help  to  call  at  his  olHee,  in  Ihe  eity  of  Boston*  on 
leavinj;  the  prison.  In  the  meantime  he  exerts  himself,  by  cori-es- 
pondeneo  and  otherwise,  to  meet  ilieir  desires  and  provide  for 
their  necessities.  The  warden  of  the  Charlostown  prison,  in  one 
of  his  annual  reports,  slates  that  tlie  agent  has  never  failed  to  find, 
for  every  one  who  asked  it,  employment  at  the  Avork  he  avIsIkmI, 
A  cal)inet  maker  of  Boston  declared  that  he  had  employed  from 
forty  to  fifty  discharged  convicts,  whom  he  knew  to  have  learned 
their  trade  in  the  prison,  and  that  he  had  never  found  it  necessary 
to  dismiss  one  of  them  for  bad  conduct.  The  i-esults  of  this  iiuciu-y 
for  discharged  convicts  are  most  encouraging.  They  show  lliat 
most  of  the  prisoners,  when  discharged,  are  enabled,  through  the 
otter  of  employment  provided  by  the  agent,  to  resist  the  tempta- 
tions to  idleness- and  crime,  by  which  they  are  assailed,  and  so  tp 
become  industrious  and  good  citizens.  Surely,  in  this  view,  they 
otter  an  example  well  worthy  to  be  studied  and  imitated  by  other 
states.  The  legislation  which  provided  such  an  agency  to  aid  in 
the  recovery  and  restoration  to  virtue  of  fallen  men  and  women 
cannot  bo  regarded  otherwise  than  as  both  considerate  and  merci- 
ful, and  as  no  less  wise  than  it  is  bcneticial. 

Although  California,  for  obvious  reasons,  was  not  included  in 
our  visitation,  it  may  not  be  iini)r()per  to  mention,  in  this  connec- 
tion, that  a  society  has  been  formed  in  that  state  on  the  model  of 
the  Xew  York  Prison  Association,  under  the  name  and  title  of  the 
"California  Prison  Commission."  A  like  attention  to  the  interests 
of  discharged  prisoners  is  given  b^-  the  younger  as  l)y  the  elder  of 
these  oro-anizations.  The  secretary  and  agent  of  the  commission, 
the  Kev.  James  Woodworth,  in  his  first  annual  report,  mentions 
several  interesting  cases  of  discharged  convicts,  Avho  were  relieved 
by  the  society.  lie  adds,  in  a  general  way,  that  foi'ly-nine  per- 
sons of  this  class  had  been  sent  l>y  him  from  San  Fraiiciseo  to 
various  points  in  the  interior,  where  they  had  a  prosiK'ct  of  work, 
and  fourteen  provided  with  places  ihrough  personal  elfort  by  him- 
self. This  officer  further  says:  1  am  conlldent  that  many  have 
ficen  srreat  cause  for  thankfulness  in  our  ettbrtsin  their  behalf,  and 
I  feel  very  sure  that  the  moral  power  exerted  over  many  by  the 


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287 


Commission,  through  its  agents,  in  the  counsel  he  lias  given  thorn 
jintl  the  kindness  ho  1ms  euileiivoi'od  to  show  theiu,  has  been  great, 
and  Avill  ho  histing  in  its  etleets  upon  them." 

It  is  much  to  1)0  rogi-etted  that  so  little  interest  is  felt,  and  so 
little  eltbrt  made  l)y  the  connnunity  in  general,  in  belmlf  of  eon- 
viets  who,  having  served  out  their  terms  of  imprisonment,  have  * 
Iteon  restored  to  freedom.  It  seems  to  us  tiiat  there  are  few  obli- 
gations bearing  more  heavily  on  society  than  that  of  making  sys- 
leniatie  and  adeijuate  provision  for  the  encouragement  of  discharged 
convicts.  Very  few  of  these  men,  Avhen  they  leave  prison,  have 
any  means  of  support,  except  the  ability  to  labor.  Going  forth 
into  the  world,  in  the  majority  of  cases  with  u  mere  pittance  of 
funds,  and  in  all  with  a  taintc.d  name,  o))jects  everywhere  of  dis- 
trust and  aversion,  however  good  their  resolutions  (and  not  a  few 
have  formed  such),  they  liiid  it  exceedingly  dithcult,  when  no  help- 
ing hand  is  extended  to  them,  to  obtain  honest  employment. 
Enforced  idleness  Avill,  in  the  natural  course  of  things,  lead  to  bad 
company.  In  such  company,  all  the  inducements  to  crime  will 
again  bo  spread  before  them,  Avhcn  they  have  no  virtuous  friends 
whoso  advice  and  example  may  shield  them  from  temptation. 
Will  it  be  matter  of  wonder,  is  it  not  rather  within  the  compass  of 
reasonable  expectation,  that  they  yield  to  such  temptation?  If, 
then,  society  would  complete  the  cure  of  its  criminals,  which  has 
been  begun  in  prison,  it  must  not  refuse  its  sympathy  and  aid  on 
their  liberation.  Everywhere,  meet  assistance  should  be  rendered 
cither  directly  by  the  government,  as  in  Mussachusetts,  or  indi- 
rectly by  voluntary  organizations,  as  in  Now  York,  Pennsylvania 
and  California.  The  citizens  of  any  state,  who  refuse  the  needed 
aid,  are  false  to  themselves,  as  Avell  as  derelict  to  a  high  social 
duty.  They  betray  an  important  interest  of  society,  and  may  be 
called  to  answer  for  a  brother's  blood. 

As  to  tracing  convicts  after  their  liberation,  with  a  view  to 
ascertain  the  eft'ect  of  the  discipline  to  which  they  have  been  sub- 
jected, this  appears,  scarcely  anywhere,  to  bo  regarded  as  a  duty. 
The  general  report  is  :  "No  elFort  is  made  to  keep  trace  of  prison- 
ers after  their  discliarge.-' 

Upon  the  whole,  as  the  result  of  our  observations,  and  Avith  a 
.-jincere  desire  to  do  injustice  to  none,  we  are  constrained  to  avow 
the  opinion,  that  there  is  not  a  state  prison  in  America  in  which 
the  reformation  of  the  convicts  is  the  one  supreme  ol)ject  of 
the  discipline,  to  which  everything  else  is  made  to  bend,  and 


288 


PRISONS   AND   REFORMATORIES   OF    THE 


w 


I 


which  tlio  whole  .'uhTihiistrntioii,  in  all  its  arriinjjomcnls,  is  in- 
tendiMl  to  iidvimco.  Tlu)  eastern  penitentiarv,  nt  Pliihulelphia, 
prohahly,  comes  the  nearest  to  that  design,  considering  not  only 
what  is  done  hy  the  i)rison  anthorities  tliemselves,  hut  also  IJu; 
ofiicial  eonneiUion  of  th^  PInladelphia  Prison  Society  Mith  tlie 
institution  and  its  systematic  and  earnest  labors  tor  the  nu/ral 
amendment  of  the  prisoners.  Massai'husetts  and  AVisconsin,  we 
thinJv,  would  come  next,  liut  neitlier  of  tlie  thre(>,  in  ourjudir- 
ment,  makes  the  reformation  of  its  inmates  tlie  primary  and  lead- 
ing  aim.  In  the  tirst  named,  the  deterrent  clement  ia,  as  we  con- 
ceive, designedly  made  the  prominent  one  ;  and  in  regard  to  the 
other  two,  to  prove  that  rcforn»ation  is  not  their  one  great  and 
controlling  end,  it  is  enough  to  rel'er.to  the  coiinnon  report  received 
from  them  and  others,  and  just  cited,  to  the  ellect  that  no  ellbrts 
are  made  to  keep  track  of  tiieir  convicts  after  they  have  left  them  ; 
for,  surely,  some  little  exertion  would  he  put  forth  to  ascertain 
liow  far  their  chief  design,  the  supremo  object  of  all  their  plan.^ 
and  toils,  had  taken  etlect  ;  and  this  could  only  be  learned  fion; 
the  conduct  of  their  Avards  after  they  should  have  boon  set  at 
liberty. 

Among  the  witnesses  examined  b}'  the  Prison  Association  com- 
mission of  18()6,  was  Mr.  Benjamin  Lcggctt.  This  gentleman,  hy 
a  rare  good  fortune,  has  served  as  an  under-ofHccr  in  Sing  Sing 
prison  from  1831  to  the  present  time,  Avith  interval  not  amount- 
ing in  the  aggregate  to  more  than  six  or  seven  jcars.  Of  the 
thirteen  administrations,  numbered  in  the  history'  of  the  prison,  he 
-  has  been  connected  with  ten;  and  his  unprecedented  retention  ir. 
the  service  is  due  to  his  rare  merit  as  an  officer.  lie  has  seen 
much,  observed  closely,  and  formed  his  judirments  Avith  cahnness 
and  candor  on  the  facts  which  have  fallen  under  his  notice.  The 
following  questions  and  answers  occur  in  his  examination:  "  What 
do  you  conceive  to  be  the  primary  object  of  prison  discipline?" 
"The  reformation  of  prisoners,"  "Do  you  think  that  our  slate  jjrisons 
in  New  York  are  conducted  with  a  prime  regard  to  reformation?" 
"I  do  not."  "Whatis,  practically,  the  end  in  view?"  "I  should  think 
the  view  was  to  make  the  prison  pay  its  Avay."  This  is  a  mild 
statement  of  the  case,  and  shoAvs  the  caution  of  the  Avitness.  In 
reality',  the  view  is,  not  only  "  to  make  the  prison  pay  its  Avny," 
but  to  show  as  large  a  surplus  revenue  as  possible.  In  the  execu- 
tion of  the  duty  avIiosc  results  Ave  are  now  reporting,  avc  have  had 


|i 


UNITED  STATES  AND   CANADA. 


occasion  to  road  huntlrctia  of  prison  rcports'ancl  other  documents  r'' 
lilting  to  prisons;  and  there  are  few  of  them  whoso  perusal  has  not 
caused  us  pain.  One  string  is  harped  upon,  ad  naiifteam — money, 
mono)',  money.  This  crops  out  everywhere,  In  executive  mes- 
sages and  the  reports  of  wardens,  boards  of  inspectors,  legisla> 
tivo  committees  and  special  commissions.  To  bring  the  prisons  to 
the  point  of  self-support,  to  secure  net  profits  from  convict  labor, 
to  make  financial  e\hil)its  that  will  gratify  the  public  craving  for 
such  profits — this  seems  to  be  the  supremo  object  of  all  (except 
the  chaplains  and  physicians)  connected  with  their  administration 
and  sharing  its  responsibility.  The  directors  of  a  bank  or  a  rail- 
road could  hardly  be  more  anxious  for  largo  dividends  than  theso 
gentlemen  are  for  good  round  incomes  from  the  labor  of  their 
prisoners.  Where  one  word  is  spoken  for  reformation,  hundreds 
arc  spoken  for  revenue.  Do  Ave  blame  these  officers  for  their 
anxiety?  Far  from  it.  It  is  but  natural  that  agents  should  wish 
to  please  their  principals.  It  is  the  public  that  is  to  be  blamed. 
It  in  the  public  that  demands  such  financial  exhibits  from  those 
whom  they  have  put  in  charge  of  their  penal  institutions.  It  is 
the  public  that  exacts  balance  sheets,  in  which  the  credits  shall 
exceed  the  debits  to  the  greatest  possible  extent.  General  Pilobury 
has  presided  over  two  prisons  in  succession  for  a  period  of  nearlj' 
40  years;  and  during  that  time  his  clear  profits  from  convict  earn- 
ings, with  but  a  moderate  number  of  prisoners,  have  amounted  to 
nearly  or  quite  a  quarter  million  dollars.  The  General  has  mani, 
fold  merits  as  a  prison  superintendent,  but  with  the  public  his 
halance  sheet  crowns  all  the  rest.  Ninety  per  cent  of  his  prison- 
ers reformed  and  restored  to  society  honest  men,  with  the  quarter 
million  in  the  other  column,  would  have  made  him  less  of  a  hero 
with  the  multitude  than  he  is  to-day.  And  yet  his  actual  record 
leaves  that  very  multitude  poorer  by  many  millions  than  would 
the  record  we  have  supposed.  (Jan  Ave  Avonder  that  prison  officers 
should  be  so  eager  to  shoAV  striking  financial  results,  or  blame 
them  for  their  eagerness?  They  are  human,  like  the  rest  of  us; 
but  they  Avould  be  more  or  less  than  human,  Avere  it  otherwise. 

When  HoAvard  Avas  on  his  tour  of  prison  inspection  on  the  con- 
tinent of  Europe,  he  found  at  Rome,  as  a  part  of  the  grcjit  hospital 
of  San  jMichele,  a  prison  for  boys  and  young  men,  Avhich  equally 
surprised  and  interested  him.  Over  the  door  of  this  prison  Avas 
placed  the  fblloAving  inscription:  "  Clemens  XI,  Pont.  Max.  Perditis 

[Assem.  No.  35.J  19 


m 


\\ 


soo 


I'RISONS  AND   REFORMATORIES   OF   THE 


Adolesccntibus  corrigomlirt  instilucnUisque,  iit  qui  inortos  obcrant, 
iiistriicti,  Kcipuhliciu  soiviant.  An.  Sul.  MDCCIV,  Ton.  IV." 
In  English:  "  Popo  Clement  XI.  For  the  conviction  and  instruc- 
tion of  profligutti  youth;  that  they  who,  when  idle,  were  injurious, 
iniiy,  when  instructed,  1)«?  useful  to  the  state.  1704."  And  within 
the  ))rison,  in  the  principal  apartment,  ho  finind  this  (as  ho  says) 
''admirable  sentence:"  "  Parum  est  eoercoro  improbos  paMia,  nisi 
probos  efficius  disciplina."  In  English:  ''It  is  of  little  use  to 
restrain  the  bad  by  punishment,  unless  you  render  them  good 
[reform  thcmj  by  discipline."  "  In  which"  [sentenoo],  says  tho 
illustrious  philanthropist,  "tho  grand  purpose  of  all  civil  policy 
relative  to  criminals  is  expressed."  In  tho  centre  of  tho  room  was 
hung  up  the  inscription,  "Silentium;"  so  that,  as  would  appear, 
the  silent  system  of  associated  lai)or,  combined  with  a  reformatory 
diaciplino,  was  fully  inaugurated  in  Komc,  in  tho  very  beginning 
of  tho  eighteenth  century;  that  is,  more  than  150  years  ago,  On(^ 
of  tho  main  agencies  relied  upon  to  effect  tho  desired  reform  of  the 
young  prisoners  was  steady,  productive  labor,  and  imparting  to 
them  the  knowledge  of  a  trade;  f<»r  various  handicrafts  Avere 
taught  in  tho  establishment,  such  as  printing,  book-binding,  de- 
signing, smither}',  carpentery,  tailoring,  shoemaking,  weaving, 
dyeing,  and  the  like.  Surely,  Pope  Clement  XI  must  bo  allowed 
a  place  among  tho  most  enlightened  rulers  and  reformers  that 
adorn  the  annals  of  our  race.  On  some  points,  tho  world  might 
still  go  to  school  to  him  with  advantage. 

Howard's  opinion  as  to  the  importance  of  making  the  reforma- 
tion of  criminals  the  special  and  -primary  object  of  prison  dis- 
cipline, is  clearly  enough  indicated  in  liis  remark,  above  cited,  on 
the  inscription  in  tho  prison  of  San  Michcle.  But  he  has  declared 
his  conviction  on  this  point  more  fully,  if  not  more  explicitly,  in 
numerous  passages  of  his  published  wiitings.  We  transcribe  one 
or  two  such  passages  from  his  works.  On  the  reformatory  char- 
acter of  penitentiaries,  he  remarks  :  "  Many  have  been  reclaimed 
and  made  useful  members  of  society  in  foreign  houses  of  correc- 
tion, and  have  thanked  God  for  their  continement  in  them.  Tiicso 
houses  arc  called  in  Holland  verheter  huize.n,  that  is,  bettering 
houses  ;  and  the  settled  object,  in  all  such  houses,  should  bo  to 
make  men  better,  at  least  more  useful  su))jects."  On  the  com- 
parative value  of  reformation  and  pecuniary  gain  in  a  prison,  he 
has  this  observation  :  "Their  earnings  constitute,  in  my  opinion, 
but  a  secondary  consideration  ;  for  surely  it  is  impossible  to  place 


UNITED  STATES  AND  CANADA. 


201 


any  degree  oi  profit  in  competition  with  tho  prospect  of  meliora- 
ting the  minds  of  our  frilow-creaturefi."  In  another  phicc,  he 
assigns  us  n  reason  for  embarking  in  the  schonio  of  erecting 
penitentiary  houses,"  "  the  pleasing  hopH,  that  such  a  phm  might 
bo  tile  means  of  pnmioting  tho  salvation  of  some  individuals  ;  of 
which  (he  adds)  every  instance  is,  accortling  to  the  unerring  word 
of  truth,  a  more  iin[)orl,uit  object  than  the  guining  of  the  whole 
world"  On  the  signilitanco  of  tho  word  "  penitentiary,"  as  in- 
dicating the  design  of  government  in  founding  such  institutions, 
he  has  tho  foUowing  remark:  "The  term  penltentiarg  clearly 
shows  that  parliament  had  chieHy  in  view  the  reformation  and 
amendment  of  those  to  be  connnitted  to  such  places  of  confine- 
ment." Tlie  italics  in  the  above  extracts  are  tho  author's;  not 
ours. 

In  tho  prison  laws  of  most  of  tho  states  of  the  American  Union, 
there  is  a  distinct  recognition  of  tho  principle  that  tho  reformation 
of  criminals  is  to  be  accounted  as  one  and,  indeed,  a  main  object 
of  imprisonment.  Tlio  earliest  mention  of  this  which  wo  have 
seen  (there  may  have  been  earlier)  is  in  an  act  passed  by  the 
Legislature  of  Kentucky  in  1797,  in  which  it  is  declared  that  "the 
reformation  of  ofl'cnders  is  an  object  highly  meriting  the  attention 
of  the  laws." 

Tho  commission  of  18G6,  put  this  question  to  nearly  every  wit- 
ness whom  they  examined  :  "  What  do  you  conceive  to  bo  the 
primary  object  of  prison  discipline  ?"  Without  a  dissenting  voice, 
their  answer  was,  "tho  rcCoi,  ation  of  tho  imprisoned."  This, 
then,  is  at  once  the  theory  of  our  laws  and  tho  opinion  of  those 
who  have  thought  most  and  arc  best  al)le  to  form  a  correct  judg- 
ment on  the  question.  Alus,  that  there  should  be  so  wide  a  chasm 
between  our  theory  and  (  m-  practice. 

Another  question  put  by  the  con. mission  of  ISGG  related  to  the 
opinion  of  the  witnes.sos  whether  convicts  could  bo  reformed.  All 
agreed  that  much  the  larger  portion  could  be  reformed  and  returned 
to  society  honest  men,  while  some  thought  that  this  result  might 
be  attained  with  nearly  all.  Mr.  Haynes  stated  his  judgment  to 
be  that  eighty  per  cent,  (four-fifths)  might  be  reclaimed;  and  with- 
out stopping  to  examine  all  the  answers,  our  impression  is  that 
something  like  this  is  about  the  proportion  believed  to  be  reforma- 
ble  by  most  of  the  witnesses. 

Captain  Machonochie  went  nuich  beyond  this.  Ho  believed 
that  conncts could  bo  "gained,  to  a  man,  by  a  system  M'hich  would 


ll 


P» 


292 


PRISONS  AND  REFORMATORIES  OP   THE 


M'  3 


study  tJieir  natural  feelings  and  seek  their  own  improvement  (advan- 
ii\gc),  together  with  tliat  of  their  country,  in  their  treatment." 
Again  he  says  (Norfoliv  Island,  pp.  14  and  15):  "I  fear  neither 
had  habits  nor  any  other  difficulties.  I  believe  that  while  life  and 
sanity  are  spared,  recovery  is  always  possible,  if  properly  sought. 
There  is  indefinite  elasticif}'  in  the  human  mind,  if  its  faculties  arc 
placed  in  healthful  action,  and  not  either  diseased  by  mal-treatment, 
or  locked  up  in  the  torpor  of  a  living  gi'avc.  These  latter  causes 
may  intimidate  outside,  but  they  must,  even  in  their  best  form, 
injure  the  sufferer  himself.  And  the  christian  morality  seems  more 
than  doubtful  that  would  sacrifice  the  known  for  the  unknown,  the 
actual  patient  for  the  supposed  looker-on.  Every  difficulty  would, 
I  feel  assured,  be  removed  from  the  administration  of  penal  law, 
if  wo  but  recognize  the  principle  that  to  seek  well  and  wisely  the 
reform  of  our  criminals,  we  must  inflict  on  them  all  the  sufl'ering 
that  is  really  necessary  for  example,  and  that  we  are  not  entitled 
to  do  more.  We  may  not  do  evil  that  good  may  come.  There  is 
no  qualification  to  this  precept." 

The  reformatory  principle  of  prison  discipline  was  wholly 
unknown  to  the  ancient  world.  Indeed,  its  discovery  and  appli- 
cation are  of  a  comparativel3'  recent  date  even  in  modern  times. 
It  rests  upon  a  foundation  made  up  of  four  subordinate  principles, 
viz:  1.  That,  for  the  practical  purposes  of  society,  human  law 
should  deal  with  crime  not  to  avenge,  but  to  prevent  it.  2.  That 
punishment,  which  is  merely  vindictive  and  repressive,  defeats  its 
own  purpose,  and  does  Ijut  increase  the  mischief  Avhich  it  would 
avert.  3.  That  severity,  out  of  proportion  to  the  oflbnce  and 
pressed  beyond  t  ;  point  at  Avhich  it  may  suffice  to  restrain  the 
culprit  from  repetition  and  the  looker-on  from  imitation,  is  both 
uiniecessary  and  injurious.  4.  That  the  justice  of  human  punish- 
ment is  measured  by  its  necessity;  and  while  the  wise  legislator 
should  labor  to  make  it  fall  with  certainty  on  guilt,  he  should,  at 
the  same  time,  as  far  as  may  l)e.  reconcile  the  claims  of  society  to 
protection  against  crime  with  the  reformation  of  the  transgressor, 
and  should  make  such  reformation,  where  he  can,  an  instrument 
in  securing  that  protection.  These  four  principles  form  a  broad 
and  s(di(i  basis  on  which  to  rest  the  necessity  and  duty  of  a 
reformatory  discipline  in  prisons.      • 

IIapi)ily  for  the  interest  of  society,  the  reformatory  i)rinciplc  of 
prison  discipline,  since  its  introduction  as  an  element  into  modern 
civilization,  has  made   remarkable  progress.     Indeed,  its  history 


UNITED   STATES   AND   CANADA. 


293 


affords  one  of  the  most  signal   illustrations  of  social  advancement 
in  our   day.      The  age  is  full  of  material   wonders.     Each  year 
brings  forth  something  more  startling  than  the  last,  and  imagina- 
tion is  less  swift  than  reality.     Physical  science   has  annihilated 
space  and  time.     Thought  travels,  on  the  wings  of  the  lightning, 
from  continent  to  continent;  and  the  morning  paper  brings  us, 
from  distant  nations,  the  events  of  yesterday.      We  know  what 
took  place  last  night  in  London  and  Paris,  just  as  we  know  what 
took   place  in  Washington  and  New  York.      But  amid  all  these 
prodigious  changes,  as  bewildering  in  their  rapidity  as  they  are 
astounding  by  their  grandeur,  it  may  well  be  doubted   whether 
there  is  anything  more  novel,  anything  fuller  of  interest  and  true 
joy  to  the  genuine  lover  of  his  kind,  than  this  quiet  movement, 
which  embraces  the  outcasts  of  earth,  and  wins  its  noiseless  vic- 
tories within  prison  walls.      This  movement  has,  indeed,  borne 
precious  fruit,  which  has  developeJ  itself  in  institutions  most  ex- 
cellent and  beneficent — reformatories  for  the  young,  intermediate 
prisons  for  adults,  refuges  and  homes   for   liberated  female   con- 
victs, and  aid  societies  for  the  relief  and  encouragement  of  pri- 
soners of  both  sexes,  who  are  disposed  to  amend  their  lives;  the 
whole  constituting  what  may  be  called  The  Modern  Reformatory 
System  of  Prison  Discipline.     This  system  has  found  its  most  per- 
fect development  in  what  is  now  known  throughout  the  civilized 
world  as  the  Irish  plan  of  convict  treatment,  devised  and  carried 
into  execution  by  Sir  Walter  Crofton,  who  therein  gave  effect  to 
principles,  with  important  modifications  of  his  own,  first  distinctly 
announced  by  Captain  Machonochie.     This  system  was  prompted 
by  and  finds  its  support  in  an  inspiring  faith  in  the  capability   of 
human  beings,  though  stained  with  crime,  to  be  won  back  to  vir- 
tue.   Moreover,  the  founders  of  the  Irish  system  had  the  further 
faith  that  the  fallen  are  reformable  through  the  action  of  the  same 
iLotives  of  hope  and  fear  which  control  the  conduct  of  the  un- 
fallen.    Its  great  aim  has  been,  acting  on  that  faith,  firmly  but 
kindly  to  apply  those  motives  to  convicts,  dealing  with  them,  not 
as  a  chaotic  mass,  but  as  men  having  idiosyncrasies  like  other  men, 
and  to  be  swayed  and  moulded,  like  them,  by  personal  influence, 
by  individual   care,   and  by  wise  adaptations  to  particular  cases, 
though  without  sacrificing  important  and  necessary  general  rules. 
Before  our  day,  the  faith  of  which  we  speak  found  little  accept- 
ance among  statesmen  and  legislators,  and  it  is  still  repudiated  by 
numbers  both  among  the  leaders  of  opinion  and  iu  social  life. 


i-tis 


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m 


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l*'l 
,j,.^|. 


294 


PRISONS   AND   REFORMATORIES  OP    THE 


And  no  doubt  it  has  its  limits  and  qualifications;  for  there  are 
moral  incurables — we  speak  ethically,  not  theologically — just  as 
there  are  men  and  women  who  are  placed  by  physical  disease  out- 
side the  resources  of  the  healing  art.  What  the  proportion  of 
incorrigibles  maybe,  we  know  not;  but,  ^iih  the  institution  of  a 
prison  discipline  truly  and  thoroughly  reformatory,  we  are  per- 
suaded that  it  will  turn  out  to  be  but  insignificant.* 

The  question  whetherareformatorj'^  discipline  can  be  made  also 
self-supporting,  is  one  which  has  its  importance;  but  that  import- 
ance is  by  no  means  paramount.  In  the  first  place,  we  think  that 
tiie  salaries  of  prison  oflScers  should  be  a  charge  upon  the  govern- 
ment, not  upon  the  industries;  and  that  a  prison  ought  to  be 
accounted  self-supporting,  which  meets  all  other  necessary  ex- 
penses; of  which,  under  the  discipline  which  wo  propose,  the 
moral  and  intellectual  machinery  would  form  a  much  larger 
proportion  than  it  does  under  that  which  now  prevails.  In  the 
Pennsylvania  state  prisons,  this  is  even  now  the  method  of  compu- 
tation; the  government  paying  the  salaries,  and  the  counties 
making  up  any  deficit  in  the  cost  of  subsistence,  &c.,  accruing 
in  the  earnings  of  the  convicts.  In  the  second  place,  we  entertain 
not  the  slightest  doubt  that,  under  an  apportionment  of  expenses 
according  to  the  principle  here  suggested,  reformatory  prisons 
could  readily  be  made  self-sustaining,  and  even  to  yield  a  surplus 
revenue  to  be  applied  in  the  accumulation  of  gratuities  to  convicts 
as  a  i*eward  for  industrj'  and  good  conduct,  as  in  the  Irish  and 
other  foreign  systems;  said  gratuities  either  to  bo  paid  to  their 
families  during  their  incarceration,  or  to  themselves,  in  instalments, 
after  their  discharge,  on  the  condition  of  forfeiting  whatever  may 
still  remain  unpaid  by  any  further  ofl^ence  committed  by  them. 

But  even  if  the  improved  system  should  fail  to  accomplish 
what  is  here  supposed,  it  would,  nevertheless,  in  the  (end,  be  loss 
burdensome  to  society,  if  it  should,  as  we  believe,  show  itself 
really  endowed  with  the  power  of  reforming  the  wicked;  for,  in 
truth,  reformation  is  the  cheapest,  whatever  it  may  cost.  A  prison 
system,  however  economical  it  may  be  in  ap})earance.  will  be 
found,  in  practice,  very  expensive,  if  it  docs  not  correct  the  ma- 
jority of  the  prisoners;  for  the  reason,  as  Mr.  Livingston  avcU 
said  in  his  letter  to  Roberts  Vaux,  that  "  discharging  an  unreformcd 


*  See  paper  road  before  the  British  Social  Science  Association,  in  ISOl,  bj  *!> ;  Bight 
HoDorablo  Thomas  O'llagan,  her  Majesty's  Attorney-Qcneral  for  Ireland. 


UNITED   STATES  AND    CANADA. 


295 


thiof  is  tantamount  to  authorizing  a  tax  of  an  unlimited  amount 
to  be  raised  on  individuals." 

\Vc  have  spoken  of  gratuities  to  be  paid  to  convicts  out  of  their 
prison  earnings,  as  a  stimulus  to  good  behavior.  In  this  regard, 
there  is  a  broad  distinction  between  American  and  European  con- 
vict prisons.  In  none  of  the  former,  so  far  as  we  are  informed, 
is  any  such  allowance  m.ade;  in  few,  if  any,  of  the  latter,  is  it 
witlihcld.  The  only  way  in  which  convicts  in  our  prisons  can 
earn  anything  for  themselves  is  by  doing  over-work.  But  in  many 
American  prisons,  over- work  is  not  allowed:  in  few  is  it  subjected 
to  legal  regulation;  in  prisons  where  it  is  alloAved,  but  a  moderate 
percentage  usually  have  the  privilege  of  doing  it;  and  in  none  is 
the  permission  to  do  it  made  the  reward  of  good  conduct.  In 
European  convict  prisons,  on  the  other  hand,  gratuities  or  a  per- 
centage of  earnings  are  the  common,  if  not  the  universal,  rule. 
In  Ireland,  they  are  given,  honajide,  as  a  reward,  and  are  designed 
to  stimulate,  first,  to  general  good  conduct;  secondly,  to  industr}'; 
and,  thirdly,  to  fidelity  and  attention  in  lesson-learning.  In  Eng- 
land, the  theory  is  the  same;  but  the  application  of  the  principle, 
if  Miss  Carpenter's  book  •'  Our  Convicts  "  is  to  be  taken  as  autho- 
rity, not  quite  so  faithful.  When  Howard  visited  the  celebrated 
penitentiary  at  Ghent,  in  1778,  he  found  the  prison  "a  well  regu- 
lated manufactory,"  and  says  that  "  the  prisoners  were  allowed 
one-fifth  of  their  earnings  for  themselves."  Buxton  visited  the 
same  institution  in  1817,  at  which  time  it  was  as  busy  a  hive  of 
industry  as  he  had  ever  seen,  the  prisoners  receiving  the  whole  of 
their  earnings — which  he  justly  characterizes  as  a  "  bad  arrange- 
ment." In  1823,  according  to  the  report  of  the  London  society 
for  the  improvement  of  prison  discipline,  one-third  of  their  earn- 
ings was  then  allowed  to  the  pi'isoners;  and  this,  we  believe,  is 
about  the  proportion  of  to-day.  It  was  .  ^ade  a  special  object 
there  to  impart  to  all  comers  the  knowledge  of  a  trade,  and  the 
consequence  was  that  not  more  than  five  per  cent  ever  returned  a 
second  time.  Many  instances  are  on  record,  in  Avhich  convicts,  on 
leaving  prison,  have  set  up  the  business  which  they  learned  during 
their  imprisonment,  have  acquired  the  means  of  doing  so  by  the 
capital  they  saved  at  the  same  time,  and  have  prospered  by  those 
habits  of  industry,  which  they  formed  while  undergoing  the 
hard  discipline  of  penal  servitude.  In  France,  also,  a  considera- 
ble part  of  the  convict's  prison  earnings  goes  to  himself;  in  De 
Tocqueville's  time,  it  was  two-thirds,  which  he  rightly  regarded 


'296 


PRISONS  AND   REFORMATORIES   OF   THE 


as  out  of  all  proportion  to  reason  and  fitness;  but,  at  the  same 
time,  he  remarks,  that  "  the  expenses,  by  means  of  which  the 
•wicked  are  reformed,  are  investments,  of  which  society  reaps  the 
fruits  at  a  later  period; "  and  adds  that,  if  the  gratuities  allowed 
to  prisoners  do  but  have  a  tendency  to  improve  them,  however 
considerable  they  might  be,  he  would  be  far  from  censuring  the 
allowance.  We  may  add,  in  this  connection,  that  most  of  the 
witnesses  before  the  commission  of  1866,  who  were  interrogated 
upon  this  point,  expressed  their  preference  for  a  percentage  of 
earnings  over  a  permission  to  do  over-work. 

SECTION  THIRTEENTH.  '  ^ 

PaRIX)N8. 

•  On  the  subject  of  pardons,  the  undersigned  inquired  diligently 
in  reference  to  the  following  points:  The  proportion  of  convicts, 
under  different  terms  of  imprisonment,  pardoned  during  a  term  of 
ten  years;  how  extensively  the  hope  of  pardon  is  entertained  by 
the  inmates  of  state  prisons;  the  effect  of  this  hope  on  prisoners, 
particularly  as  regards  their  reformation;  whether  the  pardoning 
power  has  been  heretofore,  or  is  now,  too  freely  exercised;  whether 
any  limitation  should  be  placed  on  the  pardoning  power;  whether 
a  board  of  pardon,  to  aid  the  Executive  in  examining  applications 
for  clemency,  would  be  good  policy;  and  whether  it  would  be 
expedient  to  enact  that  a  fresh  crime,  after  pardon,  should  work 
a  forfeiture  thereof,  and  remand  the  prisoner  back  to  his  original 
punishment  unabridged. 

We  were  not  as  successful  in  obtaining  information  on  these 
points  as  we  could  have  wished  to  be.  Indeed,  there  is,  in  most 
American  prisons,  too  little  system  in  keeping  oi'iminal  statistics, 
and  the  prison  registers  are  restricted  to  too  narrow  a  range  of 
topics.  There  are  various  points,  not  included  in  the  records,  on 
which  it  would  be  desirable  to  have  information;  and  as  it  respects 
the  points  actually  embraced  in  the  registers,  too  little  care,  at 
least  in  some  prisons,  is  used  to  have  the  registers  kept  with  regu- 
laritv  and  exactness. 

As  regards  the  first  point  named  above — "  the  proportion  of 
convicts,  under  different  terms  of  imprisonment,  pardoned  during 
a  term  of  ten  years," — we  are  able  to  give  the  statistics  of  only 
four  prisons,  those,  to  Avit,  of  Massachusetts,  Ohio,  Wisconsin,  and 
the  eastern  penitentiary  of  Pennsylvania. 

The  statistics  of  the  Charlcstowu  prison,  Massachusetts,  cover 


UNITED  STATES  AND  CANADA.  297 

the  whole  perioil  of  its  history,  from  October  3tl,  1828,  to  Octo- 
1st,  1866.     They  are  as  follows: 

Whole  number  of  conimitinents 5,207 

Difterent  persons  committed 4,607 

Discharged  by  expiration  of  sentence 3,754 

Pardoned 659 

Died 178 

Committed  suicide 5 

Discharged  by  order  of  the  courts 36 

Sent  to  insane  hospital 34 

Escaped 23 

Convicted  for  the  second  time 475 

do          third  time 97 

'    do          fourth  time 23 

do          fifth  time 4 

do          sixth  time 1 

Now  in  prison 518 

Sentenced  less  than  two  years 1,182 

Served  their  time  out 1,116 

Pardoned 20 

Died 15 

Sentenced  from  two  to  three  years 1, 253 

Served  their  time  out 1,078 

Pardoned 86 

Died ^ : 26 

Sentenced  from  three  to  five  years 1 ,394 

-  .     Served  their  time  out 1,034 

Pardoned 160 

Died 36 

Sentenced  from  five  to  ten  years 919 

Served  their  time  out 481 

•      Pardoned 216 

Died 40      '       ' 

Sentenced  to  ten  years  and  upwards *274 

Served  their  time  out _ 45 

Pardoned 83 

Died 31 

*  Not  iooluding  life  sentenoes. 


m 


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ft..;      ; 


ii 


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i 


I 


298 


PRISONS   AND   REFORMATORIES   OF   THE 


Sentenced  for  life 

rardoncd  

Died 

Escaped 

Discharged  by  order  of  the  courts. 

Sent  to  insane  hospital 

Now  in  prison  for  life 

Whole  number  received  last  year 

Averajie  sentence  received  last 


185 


96 
29 

S 
12 

5 
41 


247 


year. 


18  years,  8  mouths. 
14  years. 


5  years,  3  months,  5  days/ 

Aggregate  amount  of  sentences,    18,911  years,  4  months. 
Average  sentence  of  all  received,  3  years,  9  months,  5  days. 

The  longest  time  served  by  any 

one  now   in   prison,   on   one 

sentence  

The  next  longest 

The  statistics  of  pardon  for  ten  years  in  Ohio  are  as  follows : 
Whole  number  of  prisoners  during  last  ten  \ 

years 2,843 

Whole  number  of  pardons  during  last  10  yrs.  635 

Whole  number  of  prisoners  sentenced  for  life 

during  last  10  years ^  59 

Whole  number  of  prisoners  sentenced  for  life, 

pardoned  last  10  years 21 

Average  imprisonment  of  life-men  pardoned 

last  10  years 6  yrs.  7  mos.  5  dys. 

Whole  number  sentenced  five  years  and  less      ,     . . , , , 

than  10  during  last  10  years .  513 

Whole  number  sentenced  live  years  and  less  . ,    . 

tlian  10,  pardoned 109 

Average  imprisonment  of  the  pardoned 2  yrs.  8  mos.  5  dys. 

Whole  number  sentenced   10  j'cars  and  less 

than  15  years 81 

Whole  number  sentenced   10  years  and  less 

than  15  years,  pardoned 23 

Average  imprisonment  of  this  class 4    years    26    days. 

Whole  number  sentenced  for  15  years  and  less 

than  20  years 16 


Not  including  life  sentences. 


UNITED  STATES  AND  CANADA.  299 

Whole  number  sentenced  for  15  years  and  less 

than  20  years,  who  were  pardoned 3 

Average  imprisonment  of  the  pardoned 5  yrs.  4  mos.  8  dys. 

Whole  number  sentenced  for  20  years  and 

over 7 

Whole  number  sentenced  for  20  years  and 

over,  pardoned 1 

He  was  in  prison 5  yrs.  8  mos.  10  dys. 

The  following  arc  the  pardon  statistics  of  Wisconsin  for  ten 
years  : 
Whole  number  of  prisoners  confined  during 

last  10  years , 919 

Whole  number  of  prisoneis  pardoned  during 

last  10  years 187 

Whole  number  of  life-men  in  prison  during 

last  10  years 36 

Whole  number  of  life-men  pardoned  during 

last  10  years,  (6  convicted  before  '56).   ..  12 

Average  imprisonment  of  life-men  pardoned  6  years. 

Whole  number  sentenced  for  five  years  and 

lessthanlO 49 

Whole  number  sentenced  for  five  years  and 

less  than  10,  pardoned 25 

Average  imprisonment  of  this  class 3  years. 

Whole  number  sentenced  for  10  years  and  less 

tlianlS 17 

Whole  number  sentenced  for  10  years  and  less 

than  15,  pardoned 10 

Average  imprisonment  of  this  olass 3  years]  5  mouths. 

Whole  number  sentenced  for  15  years  and  less 

than20 2 

Whole  number  sentenced  for  15  years  and  less 

than  20,  pardoned .  .•w 1 

Average  imprisonment  of  this  class 3  years  8   mouths 

None  sentenced  for  over  20  years. 

The  following  statistics  of  the  eastern  penitentiary,  not  exclu- 
sively, however,  relating  to  pardons,  like  those  of  the  Charlestown 
prison,  cover  the  entire  period  of  its  history  from  October  1, 1828, 
to  January  1,  1865.  We  give  the  entire  table,  as  its  information, 
as  well  that  not  relating  as  that  relating  to  pardons,  will  be  found 
both  interesting  and  valuable : 


!i! 


300  PRISONS   AND   REFORMATORIES  OF   THE 

Whole  number  received 5,0G3 

Discharged  by  expiration  of  sentence 3,715  or  73  per  ct. 

Pardoned C71or  13 J  percent. 

Average  time  served  or  pardoned 1  yr.  10  mos.  5  dys. 

Pardoned  and  subsequently  re-convicted 6  per  cent. 

Died 279  or  5>  per  cent. 

Average  time  served 2  years  4  da}'s 

Committed  suicide..   11 

Escaped  and  removed  in  variou.s  ways 62 

Second  comers 413  or  8T  per  cent. 

Sentenced  less  than  two  years 1,878  or  37  per  ct. 

Served  their  time  out 1,008  or  85  per  ct. 

Pardoned 1 146  or  7  percent. 

Average  time  served 7    months    9  days. 

Died 27  or  1|  per  cent. 

Average  time  served 8  months  29  days. 

Now  in  prison 80  or  24^  percent. 

Sentenced  from  two  to  three  years 1,307  or  26  per  ct. 

Served  their  time  out 1,003  or  76  per  ct. 

Pardoned 169  or  13  per  cent. 

Average  time  served 1  year  19  days. 

Died 58  or  4 J  percent. 

Average  time  served lyr.  2  mos.  7  dys. 

Now  in  prison 65  or  20  percent. 

Sentenced  from  three  to  live  years 1,240  or  24  J  per  ct. 

Served  their  timeout 861  or  69  per  cent. 

Pardoned 173  or  14  per  cent. 

Average  time  served lyr.  8  mos.  26  dys. 

Died 102  or  8]  percent. 

Average  time  served .,   1  \r.  8  mos.  22  dys. 

Now  in  prison 77  or  23|  per  cent. 

Sentenced  from  five  to  ten  years 491or9|  per  cent. 

Served  their  time  out 213  or  43  percent. 

Pardoned 133  or  27  per  cent. 

Average  time  served _ 3  years. 

Died 69  or  14  per  vcnt. 

Average  time  served 2  y rs.  8  mos.  1  day. 

Now  in  prison 66  or  13^  per  cent. 

Sentenced  to  ten  years  and  upwards 147  or  2  percent. 

Served  their  time  out 30  or  20  per  cent. 

Pardoned 50  or  34  per  cent. 


UNITED   STATES   AND   CANADA.  301 

• 

Average  time  served , 5  yrs.  5  mos.  18  dys. 

Died 23  or  15  per  cent. 

Average  time  served 4  yrs,  10  mos.  4  dys. 

Now  in  prison 37  or  11 J  per  cent. 

Average  time  served 4  yrs.  1  mos.  7  dyi. 

Sentenced  for  life None. 

Pardoned None. 

Average  time  served None. 

Died None. 

Average  time  served _  ..   None. 

Now  in  prison  ^ None. 

Average  time  served None. 

Sentenced  to  five  years  and  upwards 638  or  12^  percent. 

Served  their  time  out 243  or  38  per  cent. 

Average  time  served 6  yrs.  5  mos.  10  dys. 

Pardoned 183  or  29  per  cent. 

Average  time  served 4  yrs.  5  mos.  28  dys. 

Died 92  or  14^  per  cent. 

Average  time  served _..  3  yrs.  2 mos.  12  dys. 

Now  in  prison  for  five  years  and  upwards 103  or  31 J  per  cent. 

Average  time  served 3  yrs.  8  mos.  15  dys. 

Served  ten  years  and  upwards  of  all  received  30  or  ^  of  1  per  ct. 

Whole  number  now  in  prison _ 325 

Average  time  served 3  yrs.  2  mos.  5  dys. 

The  longest  time  served  on  one  sentence 17  years  3  months. 

Received  last  year 150 

Average  sentence 2  yrs.  5  mos.  15  dys. 

Aggregate  amount  of  sentences 13,690  years. 

Average  sentence 2  yrs.  8  mos.  13  dys. 


■V'  .  V 


S02 


PRISONS   AND   REFORMATORIES  OF    THE 


The  foregoing  statistics  yleltl  some  curious  results,  which  are  in 
part  exhibited  in  the  following  table.  There  are  no  life  sentences 
ill  Pennsylvania. 


I  « 

, 

c 

e  <B 

« 

9    fi 

4) 

u    u 

v 

a  V 

C 

o 

e  0) 

S    « 

0.^ 

M 

ja  » 

J3   f 

*"* 

K 

K  P^ 

►» 

*   ^ 

>t 

2  S 

^ 

.a 

a 

A 

•?g 

-s 

•wo 

4»    t^ 

"S 

TJ 

§g 

► 

5  a 

?.»fl 

fc 

§^ 

U 

"S 

S 

-§!' 

"S  I'-S 

^^ 

•2  » 

0)  n 

a 

^1 

a  « 

&! 

7j 

a  ^ 

...    -.  " 

ereentage 
doned,  t;. 
life. 

o 
to  . 

si 

V  a 
"a 

ereentage 
sentences 
and  les:^  t 

a 

ereentage 
sentences 
and  uver. 

s  i: 

Oh 

Years. 

Ph 

0. 

■< 

Si 

< 

Years. 

Yuivrs. 

Massachusetts 

50 

7J 

12J 

2C» 

4 

32 

7 

il*eniisylvania    

13^ 

18  a 

20 

27 

5 

34 

5»T 

Ohio 

40 

21 1 

50 

2| 
3 

25 

3 

5 

Wisconsin 

33 

53 

3\ 

"ij 

In  Massachusetts  the  life  men  have  formed  one  twcnty-tifth  of 
all  the  committals,  and  yet  these  have  constituted  a  full  sevcntli 
of  the  pardoned.  In  Ohio,  the  disproportion  is  not  so  great,  and 
yet  it  is  very  considerable  ;  the  men  sentenced  for  life  constituting 
oue-forty-eighth  of  the  imprisoned,  and  one-twenty-fifth  of  the 
pardoned.  In  AVisconsin,  the  life  men  are  one-twenty-ninth  of  the 
prison  population,  and  one-fifteenth  of  the  pardoned.  Thus,  the 
convicts  for  life  would  seem  to  form,  in  some  respects,  a  privileged 
class,  and  the  chances  arc  that  they  will  have  a  shorter  imprison- 
ment  than  men  sentenced  for  twenty  or  even  fifteen  years.  The 
pardoning  power  much  more  frequently  chooses  these  men,  iu 
proportion  to  their  numl)er,  as  the  objects  of  its  clemency,  than  it 
does  the  general  mass  of  prisoners  ;  and  it  would  hence  seem  to 
be  the  interest  of  the  criminal  to  have  meted  out  to  him  the 
heaviest  punishment  which  the  law  accords  to  his  offence. 

The  gross  average  of  pardons  on  all  convicts  confined  in  Ameri- 
can prisons  will  bo  from  fifteen  to  twenty  per  cent.;  the  average 
oil  convicts  sentenced  for  five  years  and  less  than  ten,  will  be  from 
twenty  to  twenty-five  per  cent.;  the  uveiage  on  convicts  seiitpiiccd 
for  limited  periods  of  ten  or  moj-e  than  ten  years,  will  be  from 
twenty-five  to  thirty  per  cent.;  while  that  on  convicts  sentenced 
for  life  reaches  the  enormous  proportion  or  forty  to  fifty  per  cent. 

The   eminent  French  commissioners,   De  Beaumont  and  Do 


UNITED   STATES    AND   CANADA. 


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Toqiicvillc,  who  visited  this  country  some  thirty  years  ago,  lo 
examine  the  penitentiary  system  of  the  United  States,  liavo  thus 
philosophized  on  the  causes  of  this  free,  not  to  say  extravagant, 
use  of  the  pardoning  power  by  American  executives  :  "  Without 
examining  the  question  whether  it  is  absolutely  necessary  for 
society  that  some  authority  should  have  the  right  to  suspend  pun- 
ishment, it  may  be  said  that  the  less  this  authority  is  elevated 
above  the  rest  of  society  and  the  less  independent  it  is,  the  greater 
will  bo  the  abuse  of  pardoning.  In  the  United  States,  the  gover- 
nor of  each  state,  alone,  has,  generally,  the  dangerousjprjviloge  of 
pardoning.  *  *  *  In  spite  of  the  extent  of  his  prerogative 
in  special  matters  [that  of  an  unrestricted  right  of  pardon,  for 
example],  the  governor  of  a  state  occupies  a  social  position  by  no 
means  elevated.  Every  one  may  approach  him  at  any  time  ;  nmy 
press  upon  him  anywhere  and  at  any  moment.  Thus  given  up, 
without  an  intermediate  person,  to  urgent  solicitations,  can  he 
always  refuse  ?  He  feels  himself  the  slave  of  public  caprice  ;  he 
depends  upon  the  chances  of  a  re-election  ;  and  ho  is  obliged  to 
treat  his  partizans  with  extreme  care.  "Would  he  dissatisfy  his 
political  friends  by  refusing  a  slight  favor?  Moreover,  being 
invested  with  but  little  power,  he  loves  to  make  as  much  use  of 
it  as  possible." 

There  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  accessibility  of  American  execu- 
tives— all  citizens,  even  the  humblest,  feeling  at  liberty  to  ap- 
proach them  and  demand  an  audience — is  a  great,  probably  the 
greatest,  occasion  of  the  extraordinary  number  of  pardons  dis- 
pensed by  them.  AVe  have  heard  Dr.  Francis  Lieber  mention 
that,  on  a  certain  occasion,  when  ho  happened  to  be  the  guest  of 
the  late  Gov.  Marcy,  of  New  York,  on  emerging  from  the  break- 
fast table  one  morning,  they  encountered  not  less  than  a  dozen 
Avomen  in  the  hall;  Avhereupon  the  governor  remarked,  that  those 
women  were  probably  all  in  pursuit  of  pardons  for  rascally  hus- 
bands, who  would,  in  all  likelihood,  beat  them  as  soon  as  liberated. 

After  the  statements  made  above,  showing  the  enormous  per- 
centage of  pardons  actually  granted,  it  will  excite  nobody's  won- 
der to  be  told  that,  according  to  the  unanimous  testimony  of  the 
"wardens  of  state  prisons,  the  hope  of  pardon  is  well  nigh  univer- 
sal among  convicts.  This  occupies  their  thoughts  by  day,  and 
tills  their  dreams  at  night;  and  ti>  the  attainment  of  it  their  best 
energies  are  given,  as  well  as  the  greater  part  of  the  money  they 
earn  by  over- work,  or  can  otherwise  command;  for  the  race  of 


i 


304 


PRISONS  AND   REFORMATORIES   OF   THE 


pnidon  lookers — men  wlio  make  a  vpgular  business  of  procniinj^ 
piirclons  for  convicts — lon^jj  since  noticed  anil  tlenonncc'  by  Mat- 
thew Carey,  is  not  yet  extinct.  What  this  eminent  phihiMthropj^t 
Si^'s  in  iiis  Thoughts  on  Penitentiaries  and  Prison  Discipline,  is  as 
true  now  as  it  was  then,  that  the  grant  of  pardon  docs  not  so 
much  depend  on  the  degree  of  guilt,  as  on  the  pecuniary  metms 
of  the  convict  to  hire  this  corps.  A  person  convicted  of  nundor 
in  the  second  degree,  attended  witli  the  most  aggravating  circum- 
stances, who  has  powerful  friends,  or  is  plentifully  supplied  with 
money,  has  tenfold  more  chance  of  u  pardon,  than  a  poor  wretch 
found  guilty  of  petit  larceny. 

The  wardens  are  also  nearly,  though  not  quite,  unanimous  in 
the  conviction,  that  the  hope  of  pardon,  so  generally  entertained 
by  convicts,  has  a  bad  effect  upon  them  in  many  ways.  It  un- 
settles their  minds,  makes  them  uneasy,  indisposes  them  to  labor, 
nnu  impedes  their  ef!'orts  at  reformation  by  directing  their  thougjita 
and  energies  to  another  and  inferior  end.  The  wardens  who  dis- 
sent from  this  view  are  either  in  charge  of  prisons  which  are  very 
small,  as  Mr.  Rice,  of  Maine,  or  of  prisons  in  which  the  concur- 
rence of  tile  head  is  made  an  essential  condition  to  the  attainment 
of  a  \)ardou.  This  is  the  case  in  the  Wisconsin  prison,  whose 
chief  ofHcor,  Mr.  Cordier,  says  :  "  Knowing  that  no  pardon  can  bo 
obtaiincd  without  the  commissioner's  eertiticatc  of  good  conduct, 
the  convicts  arc  careful  not  to  render  themselves  liable  to  any 
compluint.  The  hope  of  pardon  stimulates  them  to  please  their 
officers  by  obedience,  diligence,  and  general  good  behavior." 
This,  in  effect,  lodges,  .it  least  to  a  degree,  the  ultimate  power  of 
pardon  in  the  head  of  the  prison,  and  puts  the  fate  of  the  con- 
vict measurably  into  his  own  hands.  So  far,  it  assimilates  itself, 
though  under  conditions  which  greatly  mar  its  completeness  and 
impair  its  efHcicncy,  to  the  Irish  system  of  prison  discipline,  and 
to  that  which  we  have  recommended  in  our  section  on  "  Sentences;"' 
the  essence  of  which  consists  in  the  substitution  of  reformation 
sentences  in  place  of  those  which  limit  the  imprisonment  to  a  fixed 
period  of  time. 

It  is  further  the  general  opinion  of  the  superintendents  of  the 
prisons  that  the  power  of  dispensing  pardons  has  been,  in  former 
years,  too  freely  exercised  ;  an<l  while  some  say  that,  at  present, 
it  is  less,  quite  as  man^^  afErm  that  it  is  niore  freely  used  than 
formerly;  while  others,  still,  represent  the  proportion  of  the 
pardoned  now  to  be  about  the  same  that  it  has  ever  been.    The 


'   UNITED  STATES  AND  CANADA.  305 

following  stntcmont  of  Mr.  Cordicr  gives  tlio  annual  pardons  in 

Wisconsin  for  ton  yoara,  uhowing  a  niodoruto  diminution  during 

tlio  liist  four : 

"Thoro  Imvo  bcou  187  convicts  pardoned  within  the  lust  ten 

yciirH,  as  follows : 

By  Gov.  Purkford,  in  1856 12 

do            do         1857 9 

DyGov.  Randall,  in  1858.. IG 

do            do         1859 31 

do           do         18()0 27 

do           do        1861 31 

By  Gov.  Salmons,  in  1862 10 

do            do         1863.. 20 

By  Gov.  Lewis,  in  1864 11 

do    do     1865 20 

"It  will  bo  seen  that  our  Governors  are  generally  more  careful 
ill  granting  pardons  during  their  first  year  of  office  than  subsequent, 
and  I  think  the  increase  is  due  to  political  considerations." 

Again,  the  wardens  of  our  state  prisons,  with  almost  entire 
unanimity,  concur  in  the  judgment  that  some  limitations  should  be 
placed  on  the  prerogative  of  pardon;  and  a  goodly  number  express 
themselves  in  favor  of  the  creation  of  a  board  of  pardon  to  aid  the 
executive  by  examining  and  giving  judgment  on  applications  for 
his  clemency. 

Quito  a  number  of  the  more  judicious  of  those  officers  favor  the 
enactment  of  a  law  to  the  effect  that  a  new  crime,  after  a  pardon, 
should  work  a  forfeiture  of  the  pardon,  and  remand  the  prisoner 
back  to  his  original  punishment,  to  which  of  course  the  new  pun- 
ishment should  be  superadded.  •  ,..    .   . 

A  few  opinions  of  prison  officers  in  reference  to  the  foregoing 
points  are  hero  appended:  Mr.  Ricej  of  Maine,  says:  "I  think  tho 
pardoning  power  should  never  be  used  except  Avith  the  approval 
of  the  warden."  Ho  would  have  the  power  limited  by  this  restric- 
tion, imposed  by  law.  Mr.  Scaton,  of  Michigan,  remarks:  "I 
think  an  application  for  pardon  should  be  noticed  in  some  paper 
pul)lished  in  or  near  the  place  where  tlie  offence  may  have  been 
counnitted,  for  a  certain  length  of  time,  so  that  tho  governor  may 
he  placed  in  possession  of  all  the  facts,  should  those  who  would 
be  most  likely  to  know  feel  disposed  to  communicate  them  to 
him."  Mr  Haynes,  of  Massachusetts,  observes:  "We  have  a 
[Assera.  No.  35.]  2Q 


:i« 

V 

1 

llMip 

■1 

mti 

! 


•iM     I: 


306 


PRISONS  AND  REFORMATORIES  OF   THE 


board  of  pardon*  to  aid  the  Executive  by  examination  cf  applica- 
tions for  his  clemency.  It  would  be  expedient  to  enact  a  law  that 
a  new  crime,  after  a  pardon,  should  work  a  revocation  of  the  par- 
don, and  that  the  prisoner  should  be  remanded  to  his  former  pun- 
ishment.'' Mr.  Cordler,  of  Wisconsin,  says:  "A  board  of  pardon 
to  aid  the  Executive  by  examining  applications  for  his  clemency 
Would  be  advisable,  and  I  should  prefer  the  judges  of  the  highest 
court  of  each  state  as  such  a  board.  A  law  working  the  forfeiture 
of  a  pardon  for  a  new  offence,, and  remanding  the  offender  to  servo 
out  his  original  sentence,  would  be  not  only  expedient  but  also 
just." 

We  have  already  mentioned,  in  the  introduction  to  this  report, 
that  in  reply  to  a  number  of  printed  interrogatories  sent,  in  1865, 
by  a  special  committee  to  all  the  ex-governors  of  the  loj'al  states, 
then  living,  letters  had  been  received  from  fifteen  of  those  officers, 
whose  names  are  there  given  (p.  19),  and  that  those  letters  had 
been  placed  in  our  hands,  to  make  such  use  of  them  as  Ave  might 
deem  proper.  As  they  contain  the  matured  opinions  of  gentlemen 
of  large  experience  and  high  ability  on  topics  of  giave  iinportanoe 
connected  with  the  general  subject  of  pardon,  we  have  judged  it, 
on  the  Avhole,  fairest  to  the  authors  and  best  for  the  public  to  print 
them  in  full,  and  they  will  accordingly  be  found  so  printed  in  the 
appendix. 

What  will  most  strike  the  reader,  in  the  foregoing  detail  of  fact 
and  opinion,  will  no  doubt  be  the  extraordinary  percentage  of 
pardons  dispensed  by  executive  clemency.  Pardon,  which  is 
either  a  total  or  partial  remission  of  the  penalty  incurred  by 
transgression,  is  an  act  which  vacates  and  nullifies  legal  justice, 
although,  since  all  human  laws  are  imperfect,  it  may,  in  doing  so, 
give  effect  to  essential  justice.  A  power  of  pardon  has  existed  in 
all  states.  It  is  a  wise  and  necessary  power.  Injustice  is  some- 
times inflicted  through  the  forms  of  law;  and  to  correct  wrongs  so 
done,  the  interposition  of  the  pardoning  power  is  sometimes  re- 
quired. Beyond  this,  its  exercise  is  perilous.  When  it  assumes 
the  province  of  review,  and  sits  in  judgment  on  the  proceedings 
of  the  courts,  it  becomes  a  usur[)ation,  and,  by  invading  the  pro- 
vince of  the  judiciary,  tends  to  bring  its  power  into  popular  con- 
tempt. 

We  object  to  the  frequent  exercise  of  the  pardoning  power  on 
several  grounds.  ^ 

i 
•  Meaning,  we  presume,  the  Governor's  Council. 


CANADA   AND    THE   UNITED   STATES. 


807 


1.  It  nullifies  the  certainty  of  punishment.  This  quality  of  cer- 
tiiiiity  is  the  most  potent  element  in  the  whole  punitory  system. 
This  was 'the  favorite  maxim  of  Beccaria.  Sir  Samuel  Romily, 
one  of  the  most  eminent  of  British  lawyers  and  reformers,  laid 
down  the  doctrine  that,  if  punishment  could  be  reduced  to  abso- 
lute certainty,  a  very  slight  penalty  would  prevent  every  crime 
that  is  the  result  of  premeditation.  What  grave  offence  was  ever 
deliberately  committed,  except  under  the  expectation,  in  the  mind 
of  the  perpetrator,  thsit  he  would  escape  the  grasp  of  justice  ? 
The  felon  does  not  weigh  the  gain  of  his  misdeed  with  the  penalty 
annexed  to  it,  and  strike  the  balance;  but  in  his  mind,  the  gain 
and  the  belief  that  he  will  somehow  elude  the  penalty,  are  joined 
together.  Would  any  man  pass  a  five  dollar  counterfeit  note  if 
he  were  sure  that  five  years'  imprisonment  would  be  the  conse- 
quence? Would  the  boldest  robber  rifle  the  mail  if  he  knew  that 
death  would  be  the  certain  doom  entailed  by  that  act? 

But  what  is  the  effect  of  granting  frequent  pardons?  Is  not  its 
(Jiicct  tendency  to  diminish  the  certainty  of  punishment  and  multi- 
ply the  chances  of  escape?  The  practice,  therefore,  holds  out  a 
positive  encouragement  to  transgressors,  and  contravenes  that 
vital  requisite  of  every  criminal  code,  on  which  Beccaria,  Romily, 
and  all  succeeding  writers  have  so  strenuously  insisted.  So 
strongly  (lid  the  late  Sir  James  Mcintosh  feel  on  this  subject, 
that,  in  a  debate  in  the  British  House  of  Commons,  in  1819,  he 
declared  that  one  pardon  contributed  more  to  excite  the  hope  of 
escape  than  twenty  executions  to  produce  the  fear  of  punishment, 
and  expressed  concurrence  in  the  opinion  of  a  magistrate,  whom 
he  pronounced  peculiarly  competent  to  judge,  that  pardons  con- 
tiiluite  to  the  increase  of  crime. 

2.  It  increases  the  hope  of  pardon,  already  too  strong  in  the 
criniinaly  disposed.  But  this  follows  as  a  necessary  corollary 
from  the  argument  under  the  last  head,  and  we  therefore  need  not 
enlarge  on  the  subject. 

'6.  It  impedes  the  reformation  of  criminals,  which  we  have  seen 
to  be  a  leading  object  of  all  wise  human  punishments.  On  this  sub- 
ject the  warden  of  the  Western  penitentiary,  Pa.,  in  his  report  for 
18G5,  has  the  following  remarks:  "  Nothing  so  much  hinders  the 
proper  management  and  reformation  of  the 'prisoner,  as  his  restless 
anxiety  to  obtain  a  pardon.  Almost  every  man  enters  the  prison 
with  the  hope  of  pardon,  and  that  hope  is  based  principally 
upon  the  fact  that  so  many  of  his  fellow  prisoners  have    been 


??: 


M  ' 


808 


PRISONS  AND  BEFOBMATOBIES  OF   THE 


released."  The  frequent  exorcise  of  the  pardoning  power 
is  undoubtedly  an  anchor  of  hope  to  the  incarcerated  criminal; 
and  there  is  very  little  likelihood  of  penitence  or  reforflaation  so 
long  as  there  is  hope  of  escaping  punisbment.  Until  the  convict 
has  given  up  the  expectation  of  pardon,  and  made  up  his  mind  to 
submit  cheerfully  and  patiently  to  the  award  of  justice  as  ren- 
dered in  the  seLtence  of  the  court,  he  will  put  forth  no  vigorous, 
sustained  and  peisevering  eftbrt  in  the  direction  of  personal 
reformation. 

We  Avill  only  add  that  should  the  principle  of  reformation  sen- 
tences, or  even  task  sentences,  agreeably  to  Capt.  Machonoehie's 
plan,  be  practically  adopted,  all  diflSculty  on  the  matter  of  par- 
dons and  all  peril  thence  arising,  will  be  done  away  with,  as  the 
prisoner's  fate  will  then  be  put  in  his  own  power  ;  that  is,  within 
certain  limits,  for  under  that  and  every  other  effective  system, 
there  must,  of  necessity,  be  a  minimum  of  punishment. 

SECTION  FOURTEENTH. 

1 

Criminal  Statistics.  ' 

In  the  preceeding  section,  we  have  spoken  of  the  defective  and 
imperfect  manner  in  which  the  statistics  of  American  prisons  are, 
for  the  most  part,  kept.  In  an  able  paper  on  Punishment  and 
Reformation,  by  Thomas  Chambers,  Q.  C,  Common  Sergeant  of 
London,  published  in  the  Transactions  of  the  British  Social  Science 
Association  for  1862,  there  are  some  paragraphs  of  much  interest 
on  the  utility  and  value  of  statistics,  from  which  we  shall  take  the 
liberty  to  draw,  to  some  extent,  in  the  remarks  which  we  propose 
to  offer  on  this  subject. 

The  whole  science  of  statistics,  so  far  especially  as  it  relates  to 
crime  and  criminal  justice,  is  too  little  appreciated  and,  therefore, 
too  much  neglected  in  the  United  States.  The  laws  of  social 
phenomena  can  only  be  ascertained  l)y  the  accumulation  and  analy- 
sis of  statistical  facts.  Returns  of  such  facts,  carefully  gathered 
from  a  wide  field  of  observation  and  skilfully  digested,  arc  indis- 
pensable to  enable  us  to  judge  of  the  real  effect  of  any  law  or 
system  which  we  may  have  put  in  operation.  What  we  want  to  know 
is  the  facts  ;  but  a  knowledge  of  the  facts  relating  to  so  complex 
a  subject  as  that  of  crime  and  criminal  administration  implies  a 
mass  of  figures,  collected  from  all  quarters,  and  arranged  and 
tabulated  with  reference  to  some  definite  object.  The  local  and 
the  special  are  to  little  purpose  here  ;  it  is  the  general  only  that 


UNITED   STATES   AND    CANADA. 


S09 


has  value ;  that  is,  returns  so  numerous,  so  manifold,  and  drawn 
from  so  wide  a  field  and  amid  such  diversified  circumstances,  as  to 
give  a  significance  to  the  results.  It  is  such  returns  alone  that 
will  yield  inferences  of  practical  vakie.  We  want  to  get  an 
average;  and  in  order  to  this,  we  must  have  scope  enough  and 
vari'-tj'  enorgh,  both  in  the  range  and  character  of  the  returns,  to 
be  enabled  to  eliminate  whatever  is  local  and  accidental.  Only  on 
this  condition  can  our  conclusion  upon  Avhat  constitutes  the  essence 
of  the  matter  be  sound  and  safe.  Only  on  this  condition  shall  we 
be  able  to  feel  that  our  inferences  rest,  not  upon  mere  incidents 
of  the  phenomena,  which  may  be  partial,  casual  and  immaterial, 
but  on  the  phenomena  themselves,  apart  from  variations  which  are 
only  temporary  or  adventitious.  * 

We  wish  to  know,  for  example,  whether  the  stern  severity  of 
the  old  system  of  prison  discipline,  or  the  benign  pressure  of  the 
new,  is  the  more  successful  in  repressing  crime.     How  are  we  to 
decide  this  question?     Obviously,  our  conclusion  will  have  iittle 
force,  unless  our  facts  shall  have  been  collected  from  a  wide  ter* 
ritor}',  and  under  the  greatest  diversity  of  conditions  and  inci- 
dents; Ro    '   *  <ivery  phase  and  relation  of  the  phenomena  shall 
have  beei   r.i.  i  ded  in  our  returns,  and  all  that  is  special  and  ex- 
ceptional shall  have  been  corrected,  and  a  result  reached  not  neu- 
tralized or  vitiated  by  any  circumstances  which  have  not  been 
noted,  and  due  allowance  made  for  them  in  the  analysis.     But  the 
materials  for  a  generalization,  having  the  breadth  and  reliability 
here  supposed,  are  criminal  statistics.     A  reformatory  prison  in 
one  place  may  signally  succeed,  and  in  another  as  signally  fail; 
yet  the  success  of  the  one  and  the  failure  of  the  other  may  have 
little  if  any  value  as  an  argument;  bplh  the  triumph  and  the  de- 
feat may  have  been  the  result  of  accidental  causes — as,  for  exam- 
ple, the  competency  or  incompetency  of  the  head — and  they  will, 
therefore,  afford  no  ground  for  any  general  conclusion.     But  if 
the  experiment  of  the  new  and  mild  discipline  has  been  tried  in  a 
score  of  different  places  and  under  conditions  widely  variant,  and 
yet  has  always  succeeded  in  securing  a  larger  proportion  of  rcform- 
ntions  than  the  old  and  rigid  system,  except  in  a  few  cases  where 
the  failure  can  be  clearly  traced  to  adventitious  causes,  such  au 
iiuluction  will  afford  a  solid  basis  for  our  inferences,  and  we  shall 
fool  that  wo  stand  upon  the  rock  in  affirming  the  proposition,  that 
kindness  is  more  eftcctivc  than  severity  in  reforming  prisoners 
and  leadiuf;  them  back  to  virtue. 


If  U] 


.'  •■ 


!!' 


ii! 


r 


If 


|! 


?!:• 


310 


PRISONS   AND   REFORMATORIES   OF    THE 


In  proportion,  therefore,  as  our  facts  are  gathered  from  narrow 
districts  and  confined  to  brief  periods  of  time,  our  generalizations 
will  be  unsafe  as  a  basis  of  argument ;  for  wo  can  never  bo  sure 
that  the  luere  accidents  of  the  experiment  may  not  have  deter- 
mined the  character  of  the  result.  A  practice,  founded  on  con- 
elusions  arrived  at  in  this  way,  though  scientific  in  form,  would  be 
empirical  in  fact ;  dogmatism  would  be  mistaken  for  induction. 
Nor  can  we  correct  this  false  reasoning  otherwise  than  by  returns, 
which,  if  no',  universal,  are  at  least  general;  that  is,  broadly  com- 
prehensive both  of  space  and  time.  As  we  know  crime  to  be 
occasionally  local  and  epidemic ;  so,  under  a  certain  conjunction 
of  circumstances,  may  reforiuiktiou  bo  ;  for  what  else  than  this  are 
those  mighty  revivals  of  veligi  )n,  which  have  marked  the  history 
of  the  church  in  all  ages  ?  llc^ults  may  be  secured  in  one  place 
and  by  one  agency,  which  we  may  in  vain  seek  to  parallel  in 
another  place  and  by  a  dilFercnt  agenc}'.  If,  therefore,  we  would 
test  the  general  ur  average  results  of  a  reformatory  prison  discip- 
line, we  must  collect  our  facts  from  all  quarters,  even  from  distant 
states  and  nations ;  I'cturns  from  one  or  two  localities  will  be 
w'thout  value  ;  nay,  they  ma}"-  prove  deceptive  and  misleading. 
If  we  would  know  what  a  curative  agonc^'  can  accomplish  on  the 
whole,  we  must  know  M'hat  it  is  efiecting  in  the  manufacturing 
towns  and  in  the  rural  villages  ;  what  in  the  seaports  and  in  the 
mountains  and  valleys  of  the  interior  ;  and  what  in  the  coo*  beds 
and  in  the  gold  mines.  We  must  learn  its  results,  not  in  selected 
sjjots  and  under  particular  circumstances,  but  over  broad  regions 
and  amid  conditions  endlessly  varied.  The  essential,  inwrought 
power  of  our  philanthropic  machiii'^ry  then  comes  out  and  makes 
itself  manifest,  when  it  h  seen  in  conilict  with  the  special  obstacles 
it  hsis  to  encounter  in  the  agricultural,  commercial,  manufacturing 
and  mining  populations  of  a  country'.  The  result  of  its  struggle 
with  all  opposing  ditticulties  is  the  result  which  alone  is  of  any 
worth  to  us.  And  this  can  be  known  only  as  the  facts  arc  gathcrcl 
from  all  these  fields,  and  are  collated,  digested,  and  reduced  to 
tabulated  forms  upon  some  uniform  system,  or  at  least  in  a  way 
that  will  admit  of  practical  comparison. 

We  want  such  statistics — uniform,  full,  and  collected  with  regu- 
laritN'  from  all  the  prisons  and  ret'ormalories  of  our  state.  Their 
systematic  collection  would  be  a  great  step  in  advance;  and  yet  it 
would  go  but  a  short  way  towards  supplying  what,'  as  a  nation, 
we  really  need.     New^  York  is  but  .i  unit  in  a  great  system  of 


UNITED  STATES  AND   CANADA. 


311 


states,  constituting  ono  vast  nation.  What  do  the  American  peo- 
ple know  about  American  prisons  ?  Something  they  know  of  the 
piisons  of  Charlcstown,  Sing  Sing,  Auburn  and  Philadelphia;  but 
what  information  have  they  of  the  state  and  progress  of  prison  dis- 
ci[)line  in  Oregon,  Minnesota,  New  Jersey,  and  other  members  of 
the  American  Union?  How  many  know  the  principle  on  which 
convict  labor  is  conducted  in  the  penitentiaries  of  Illinois  and  Ken- 
tucky ?  Yet  prison  discipline  is  a  mighty  interest,  touching  pro- 
foundly the  nation's  well-being,  and  involving,  by  its  success  or 
failure,  its  material  interests  to  the  extent  of  scores,  if  not  hun- 
dreds, of  millions  every  year.  Is  not  prison  discipline,  then,  a 
sul)jcct  on  which  the  people  everywhere  ought  to  be  interested, 
and  on  which  they  need  information,  full,  systematic,  trustworthy 
and  regular?  It  is  not  in  reference  to  a  prison  here,  a  reforma- 
tory there,  and  a  truant  home  somewhere  else,  that  they  require 
to  be  informed;  but  they  should  have  such  information  touching 
all  the  penal  and  correctional  institutions  of  all  the  states,  and 
then  they  would  be  able  to  judge  whether  the  Avork  of  reforming 
criminals  is  really  accomplished,  or  whether  our  penitentiary  sys- 
tem is  a  mistake  and  a  sham. 

The  directjf".!  in  which  these  remarlis  point,  it  is  easy  to  dis- 
cover. The  national  government  has  recently  instituted  a  bureau 
of  education,  a  step  in  legislation  which  we  have  long  regarded  as 
highly  important  to  the  great  interest  of  popular  enlightenment. 
Is  not  a  prison  bureau  equally  desirable,  if  not,  perchance,  equally 
necessary  ?  We  know  of  no  other  way  of  effecting  the  object  than 
by  the  agency  of  the  general  government,  which  is  alone  compe- 
tent to  the  task  of  collecting,  collating,  digesting  and  issuing  such 
returns  as  we  have  indicated.  Among  the  functions  of  such  a 
bureau  would  be  to  devise  and  promulgate  the  best  forms  for  pri- 
son registers;  the  best  method  of  recording  judicial  proceedings, 
with  the  view  of  supplying  statistical  information  on  legal  sub- 
jects; the  best  modes  of  tabulating  criminal  and  judicial  statistics, 
and  the  best  means  of  securing  the  preparation  of  comprehensive, 
scientitic  and  accurate  prison  returns.  A  prison  bureau,  like  that 
here  proposed,  would,  it  it  is  true,  cost  its  annual  thousands;  but 
it  would,  inJirectly,  as  we  think,  beyond  a  peradventure,  save  to 
the  nation  its  annual  millions.  LeJ  it  be  remembered  that  crime 
is  the  foe  against  which  we  war,  a  mischief  great  and  multiform; 
and  it  is  to  lead  the  battle  and  suggest  the  best  methods  of  assault, 
tliut  thi»  bureau  is  needed.    The  conflict  must  be  bold,  skillful, 


(M: 


\V^ 


;; 


312 


PRISONS  AND  REFORMATORIES  OF   THE 


untiring,  hopeful,  and  with  weapons  of  lovo  rather  than  of  ven- 
geance. So  assailed,  the  evil  will  yield,  slowly,  no  doubt,  but 
surely,  to  the  attack.  The  principle  of  all  true  and  effective  prison 
discipline,  cetainly  of  all  that  is  is  intended  to  be  curative  as  well 
as  deterrent,  is  enunciated  in  one  terse  dictum  of  inspiration: 


••  Overcome  evil  with  good." 


SECTION  FIFTEENTH. 
Miscellaneous  Items. 

The  cost  of  conveying  prisoners  from  the  place  of  conviction 
to  prison  and  the  principle  on  which  the  said  cost  is  regulated, 
are  matters  of  considerable  importance,  as  will  appear  from  stutc- 
ments  about  to  be  submitted.  In  most  of  the  states,  the  officer 
charged  with  the  conveyance  of  convicted  criminals,  is  the  shorifV, 
and  the  principle  on  Avhich  the  charges  thereon  are  regulated  is 
that  of  a  fee  or  mileage.  In  other  states,  as  Massachusetts,  Maine, 
and  Connecticut,  the  actual  cost  of  conveyance  is  paid,  and  the 
officers  who  attend  to  the  business  are  the  wardens  or  other  offi- 
cials of  the  prisons  deputed  by  them,  and  for  whose  fidelity  they 
are  held  responsible.  The  other  principle  named  is  the  one 
adopted  in  New  York.  Now  for  the  comparison  of  expenses: 
During  the  year  1866,  1,527  convicts  were  conveyed  to  the  three 
state  prisons  of  'Ncvi  York,  at  a  cost  to  the  state  of  $30,000  (it 
was  a  little  over,  but  we  cannot  give  the  fraction) ;  or,  $19  per 
man.  During  the  same  year,  there  were  conveyed  to  the  state 
prison  of  Massachusetts,  247  convicts,  at  a  gross  cost  of  $240.22, 
or  ninetj'-seven  cents  per  man.  Had  the  convicts  in  our  state  been 
conveyed  at  the  same  rate  (and  considering  wo  have  three  state 
prisons,  it  should  not  have  been  much  more),  their  conveyance 
would  have  cost  $1,381,  and  there  would  have  been  a  saving  to 
the  public  exchequer  of  $28,619.  We  cannot  hesitate  to  recom- 
mend, can  the  Legislature  hesitate  to  adopt,  the  Massachusetts 
plan? 

During  the  late  tremendous  civil  war,  there  was  a  diminution 
of  male  prisoners  in  all  the  state  prisons,  of  ten  to  fifty  per  cent. 
This,  by  no  means,  indicates  a  diminution  of  crime.  Criminals 
were  as  numerous,  perhaps  more  numerous,  than  ever ;  but  con- 
victions were  fewer.  This.Avas  due  to  several  causes.  One  of 
these  causes  was  tersely  expressed  by  a  sheriff,  who  observed  to 
one  of  us  during  the  progress  of  the  strife,  that  the  penalty  of 
crime  now-a-days  was  to  enlist  in  the  army,  and  get  a  large  bounty. 


UNITED  STATES  AND   CANADA. 


313 


This  was,  perhaps,  ••  putting  too  fine  a  point  upon  it ;"  but  there 
was  an  element  of  truth  in  the  remark.  Mr.  Prentice,  of  the  Ohio 
penitentiary,  thus  exphiins  the  matter  :  "Local  committees  have 
secured  young  men  from  punishment  for  minor  offences,  on  con- 
ilition  that  they  Avould  enlist.  Others  have  fled  for  refuge  to  the 
army,  and  have  thus  avoided  arrest.  Old  criminals  have  sought 
the  army  not  only  for  refuge,  but  as  a  field  for  fresh  depredations." 
The  number  of  female  convictions  increased  during  the  war ; 
though  this  increase  was  less  marked  in  the  state  prisons,  than  in 
prisons  of  an  inferior  grade,  where  minor  oflcnces  receive  their 
punishment. 

In  most  states,  the  wardens  reported  the  administration  of 
criminal" justice  as  tardy  and  proportionally  lax.  Mr.  Prentice 
has  this  remark  on  the  subject :  "  A  man  of  wealth  or  influence, 
or  an  expert  criminal,  may  retard  trials,  >vhen  the  postponement  is 
likely  to  aid  a  release  or  mitigation ;  but  a  poor  or  friendless 
wretch  is  disposed  of  summarily."  This  is  so  in  other  states  than 
Ohio,  and  other  countries  than  America.    ' 

On  an  average,  nearly  or  quite  one  half  of  the  inmates  of  our 
state  prisons  are  under  thirty  years  of  age. 

The  percentage  of  convicts  of  foreign  birth  varies  from  a  third 
to  a  half  of  the  entire  prison  populations,  which  is  out  of  all  pro- 
portion to  the  populations  of  the  several  states.  The  proportion 
wo'-.id  be  larger,  if  the  children  of  foreigners  were  also  taken  into 
the  account. 

The  reasons  assigned  by  reconvicted  criminals  for  their  relapses 
are,  in  the  main,  liquor,  old  associates,  bad  company,  and  the 
prejudice  existing  in  the  community  against  them  on  account  of 
their  having  before  been  in  prison. 


-::>*i:' 


S14 


PRISONS  AND   REFORMATORIES  OF   THE 


CHAPTER  II. 
County  Jails. 

Tho  several  European  coiuniissions,  which  visited  the'  Uuitctl 
States  some  thirty  odtl  years  ago  to  examine  our  penitentiary  sys- 
tem, while  commencing  American  state  prisons  as  at  thi't  time  fur 
in  advance  of  the  same  class  of  institutions  in  Europe,  both  in  their 
organizaf  ion  and  working,  speak  of  our  county  jails  as  among  tho 
worst  prisons  they  had  ever  anywhere  seen.  From  tho  obscrvii- 
tions  we  have  made  in  our  own  and  other  states,  we  fear  that  thoro 
has  been  little  improvement  in  this  class  of  prisons  within  the  lust 
jjonoration. 

A  distinguished  member  of  the  bar  of  New  Jersey  writes  to  us 
in  the  following  strain  about  the  jails  of  that  state:  "  You  ask  nio 
to  add  a  paragraph  concerning  our  county  jails.  This  I  can  hardly 
do  without  feeling  my  indignation  to  rise.  I  regard  the  outrage!? 
which  are  committed  through  these  institutions  as  disgraceful  and 
opproi!.sive.  They  are  not  constructed  properly.  I  have  never 
bcpu  able  to  sec  by  what  right  a  person  is  deprived  of  the  light 
and  air  of  heaven,  when  he  is  committed  only  for  trial;  especially 
when,  in  nearly  one-half  of  the  cases  of  such  commitment,  there  is 
not  even  an  indictment  found,  and  when,  even  if  the  accused  is 
indicted,  there  is  no  conviction.  Such  persons  are  confined  only 
to  answer,  and  not  as  a  punishment.  There  is  no  law  justifying 
the  privation  of  air  and  light,  a  comfortable  bed,  books  to  reail, 
and  other  like  reasonable  comforts.  Persons  who  have  never  be- 
fore been  charged  with  crime,  and  only  now  with  a  small  offence, 
not  able  at  present  to  give  bail,  are  thrust  into  jail;  subjected  to  dirt, 
vermin,  offensive  air  and  darkness;  without  a  chair  or  table  in  the 
room;  fed  like  a  felon  behind  the  bars;  associated  with  the  de- 
praved and  disgusting  criminal;  eating,  sleeping  and  living  with 
the  wicked  and  profane:  the  whole  suffering  and  degradation  far 
heavier  to  bear  than  the  penalty  of  the  offence  charged,  Avhich 
would  only  1)0  a  small  fine,  if  convicted  at  all,  which  may  not  be 
the  case.  Oh  !  what  a  burning  shame  1  There  is  no  law  for  such 
treatment.  Inexperienced  youth,  male  and  female,  and  respecta- 
ble men  and  women,  are  sometimes  obliged  to  be  put  into  tlio 
sherift''s  custody  for  a  day  or  two,  or  longer,  and  they  suffer  such 
outrages  as  those  described  above,  without  any  redress. 


UNITED   STATES   AND   CANADA. 


815 


"There  shouki  be  more  variety  In  the  cells.  There  should  be 
C()nit'orta))lc  rooms,  made  secure,  but  not  dark  cells  only.  There 
should  be  more  discrimination  in  iho  treatment  of  persons  in  jail. 
There  should  be  an  eye  to  the  prevention  ot*  crime  in  the  jailor. 
The  jail,  which  generally  is  only  preliminary  as  it  were  to  the 
state  prison,  is  a  far  greater  punishment  than  confinement  in  the 
l)ri.son.  Mci'cer  county  jail  is  notoriously  bad.  Several  grand 
juries  have  presented  it." 

Mr.  Cyrus  Mendendall,  the  foremost  man  in  Ohio  on  the  subject 
of  prisons  and  prison  discipline,  in  a  letter  to  the  underi'igned, 
thus  speaks  of  the  county  jails  of  his  state:  "  Our  jails  are  left 
almost  entirely  to  the  charge  of  the  county  shcriiFs,  without  any 
control  as  to  internal  regulation  by  the  state.     The  judges  of  the 
courts,  at  long  periods,  give  their  'instructions' to  the  sherifis; 
but  little  further  attention  is  paid  to  the  matter,  and  those  instruc- 
tions are  seldom  obeyed.     I  had  occasion,  recoiitly,  to  visit  St. 
Clairsville,  our  «county  seat,  and  was,  kindly  shown  through  our 
jail  by  the  sheriff.     I  found  it  to  contain  three  cells  and  two  upper 
rooms.     (The  population  of  the  comity  is  al)out  40,000.)     The 
cells  were  on  a  level  with  the  ground;  were  poorly  ventilated,  or 
rather  not  ventilated  at  all;  were  damp,  and  not  occupied.     The 
rooms  over  them  were  about  fifteen  by  eighteen  feet,  with  two 
small  windows  on  one  side,  and  a  small  hole  in  the  doorj  opening 
into  a  hall  on  the  other.     One  of  these  rooms  was  unoccupied  and 
in  the  other  were  four  men,  and  a  boy  twelve  years  of  age.     The 
men  had  just  been  sentenced  to  the  penitentiary  for  terms  of  one 
to  five  years,  and  the  boy  was  to  go  to  the  reform  school.     They 
had  all,  boy  included,  been  confined  in  this  manner  several  months, 
or  during  a  long  vacation  of  the  court.     No  other  care  had  been 
extended  to  them  than  to  prevent  their  escape,  and  to  feed  and 
keep  them  tolerably  clean.     #     *     *     #     jj  \^  tjjg  practice  for  pri- 
soners of  the  same  sex  to  associate  promiscuously  in  our  county 
jails,  except  such  as  are  confined,  for  greater  security,  in  cells.    As 
to  the  influence  of  such  associations,  my  own  observation  at  home, 
and  a  somewhat  extensive  inquiry  of  prisoners  in  the  Ohio  peni- 
tentiary as  to  their  experience,  would  pronounce  it  decidedly  bad; 
.and  our  jails,  in  many,  cases,  are  crime-producers  instead  of  crime- 
repressers.     So  fully  am  I  convinced  of  this,  thai  I  have  often  to 
rejoice  when  I  see  a  young  man,  and  especially  a  l)oy,  escape  a 
confinement  there,  even  though  he  was  clearly  liable  to  it  by  law."* 

A  few  years  ago,  Mr.  Wm.  J.  Mullen,  agent  of  the  inspectors  of 


*  The  whole  Mr.  MendendaU'a  valuable  letter  will  be  found  in  the  Appendix. 


I   ! 


Ill 


316 


PRISONS  AND  REFORMATORIES   OP   THE 


the  Philndelphiti  county  prison,  and  also  of  tlio  Pliiliidolpliiii 
Prison  Society,  wiw  commissioned  l)y  the  governor  of  Pennsylvjiniu 
to  visit  the  principal  prisons  of  the  state,  an«l  instructed  to  make  a 
report  thereupon.  Wo  cite  a  brief  passage  froni  his  description 
of  the  Allegheny  county  jail:* 

"I  found  confined  therein  120  prisoners  in  a  most  dcplorahlc 
state;  nmny  of  them  were  almost  starving.  The  untried  prisoners 
are  allowed  by  the  authorities  Hftecn  cents  per  day  for  their  food, 
and  the  vagrants  ten  cents;  but  it  seems  nine  cents  of  the  filtocn 
and  ftmr  of  the  ten  cents  are  retained  by  the  sheriff  as  a  perquisite. 
And  the  sum  used  for  the  prisoners  is  expended  on  bread,  Avifli  an 
addition  on  Tuesdays  and  Fridays  of  about  u  cent's  Avorth  of  beef 
broth.  It  appears  that  five  days  in  the  week  the  prisoners  get  no 
other  food  than  bread  and  water;  and  it  is  said  that  out  of  the  sum 
allowed  for  their  support,  the  sheriff  niakes  about  $4,000  a  year. 
This  largo  amount  is  accumulated  at  the  expense  of  the  comfort 
and  health  of  the  poor  prisoners,  who  are  unablo^o  procure  relief 
from  friends  outside. 


w    #    *    * 


I  found  this  prison,  besides  l>eing 


ill  ventilated  and  filth}',  to  be  in  an  extremely  disorderly  and  con- 
fused condition.  Every  cell  door  was  open,  and  the  prisoners  had 
free  access  to  each  other,  with  the  opportunity  of  unrestrained 
intercourse.  I  refer  to  the  males.  The  Avomen  were  not,  indeed, 
actually  permitted  to  intermingle  with  the  men,  but  they  were 
allowed  everything  short  of  that.  They  might,  at  pleasure,  walk 
round  the  corridor  in  front  of  their  cells,  from  Avhich  they  could 
look  down  upon  and  talk  with  the  men.  With  such  facilities  for 
corruption,  both  parties  must  become  debased.  Apart  from  this 
objectionable  feature  of  the  administr;'tion,  it  was  most  distressing 
to  see  convicts,  burglars,  murderers,  young  and  old,  guilty  and 
innocent,  black  and  white,  all  i  aving  u;uestricted  access  to  each 
other's  cells,  many  of  whom  were  amusing  themselves  by  playing 
cards,  smoking  cigars,  and  doing  whate\'cr  else  they  chose  for 
passing  away  the  time.  For,  be  it  noted,  the  prisoners  have  no 
regular  employment  whatever;  a  fact  much  to  be  regretted,  since, 
leaving  economical  considerations  out  of  the  cpiestion,  the  beneficial 
effects  of  steady  occupation  in  some  useful  labor  must  be  obvious, 
it  being  the  best  preservative  both  of  moral  and  bodily  heallli." 
We  found  this  prison  and  other  county  jails  in  Pennsylvania  in 
much  the  same  stale  as  that  above  described.  The  principal  dilfer- 
encc  was,  that  the  men  were  let  out  into  the  corridor  one  part  of 
the  day  and  the  women  the  other;  but  the  evils  of  association  were 

*  This  ooiinty  contains  the  important  city  of  Pittsburgh. 


UNITED  STATES   AND   CANADA. 


817 


as  rifo  fts  cvor;  for,  in  addition  to  mingling  in  the  corridors,  there 
wore,  in  some  cases,  as  many  as  four  or  tivo  in  u  cell. 

In  18G4,  the  rhiUidclpiiia  Prison  Society  made  a  thorough 
examination  of  the  county  jaiU  througlmut  the  state,  most  of 
which  they  found  in  a  deplorable  condition.  They  complain, 
among  other  things,  of  the  general  neglect  to  provide  for  a  proper 
separation  of  the  sexes.  "  In  some  cases,"  they  remark,  •'  there 
was  found  to  ho  no  attempt  to  separate  them  during  the  day.  *  *  * 
In  regard  to  the  association  of  male  and  female  prisoners,  there  is 
no  rule,  and  the  practice  varies.  Whether  the}'  shall  be  separated, 
or  together,  depends  on  the  will  of  the  sheriflT.  It  is  a  usually 
recognized  principle  that  the  sexes  shall  not  associate  at  night. 
Yet  even  this  principle  is  infringed  occasionally.  But,  however 
strictly  it  may  be  observed,  the  grossest  immorality  may  exist 
without  the  sexes  boipg  permitted  to  spend  the  night  together. 
*  *  *  *  It  is  doubtfuljjiwhen  male  and  female  prisoners  spend  the 
(lay  together,  whether  much  evil  is  preventti'  by  their  separation 
for  the  night  only." 

Other  deficiencies  are  pointed  out,  particularly  the  general  and 
almost  total  neglect  of  any  moral,  mental  or  industrial  training  of 
the  prisoners.  There  is  no  labor  in  the  jails,  except  in  a  few  con- 
ducted on  the  separate  ))lan;  religious  instruction  is  scant,  and  the 
ignorant  remain  in  ignorance,  except  that  their  fitculties  are  sharp- 
ened to  wrong  by  mutual  instruction  in  the  arts  of  crime.  Upon 
the  whole,  the  opinion  of  this  excellent  and  humane  society  is,  that 
the  mass  of  Pennsylvania  jails  promote  crime  instead  of  repressing 
it.  They  say:  "Social  confinement  of  the  guilty  without  moral 
instruction,  without  proper  books,  Avithout  steady  employment, 
must  be  productive  of  more  evils  to  society  at  large  than  would 
flow  from  the  entire  neglect  of  justice  toward  the  criminal.  Pri- 
sons l)adly  constructed  and  badly  conducted  must,  in  the  nature  of 
things,  be  schools  of  vice,  weaning  the  young  offender  from  the 
tusto  and  use  of  the  little  good  that  is  left  in  him,  and  making  the 
bad  worse."        ' 

AVe  visited  the  jails  in  the  great  western  and  southern  cities  of 
Detroit,  Chicago,  Indianapolis,  St.  Louis,  Louisville,  and  Cincinnati, 
and  found  them  all  quite  unfit  for  the  purpose  to  which  they  are 
devoted. 

In  the  jail  at  Chicago,  Illinois,  the  cells  were  dark,  without  ven- 
tilation, and  swarming  with  vermin.  Some  were  so  foul  that,  after 
a  few  minutes  stay  in  them,  we  felt  a  sickening  sensation.  Yet  in 
these  close  and  filthy  abodes  human  beings,  crowded  together,  are 


818 


PRISONS  AND  REFORMATORIES  OF  TUB 


confined  for  iliiyH,  wcoks,  months  even,  many  of  whom  a'  o  nfterwiudi 
n<lJn«lg«Ml  to  I)G  innocent.  It  i'h  u crime  n<;ainHt  hnminiity  to  ilepiivo 
any  one,  however  depravod,  of  the  li^rlit  and  air  of  heaven,  liincc, 
apart  from  its  essential  injustice,  snch  phyNieal  pnnishment  invariti 
biy  induces  moral  deterioration,  and  the  individnal  Hnhjeetect  .o 
it  re-entors  society  a  worse  man  than  ho  left  it.  How  great,  thin, 
must  bo  the  crime  of  such  deprivation,  when  inflicted  on  tiiu 
innocent. 

The  county  jail  in  St.  Louis,  Missouri,  is  in  even  u  worse  con- 
dition than  that  at  Chicago,   as  described   in  the  foregoing  pain- 
graph.     It  has  been,  as  we  learn  from  the  Kev.  Dr.  Elliott,  regu- 
larly presented  as  a  nuisance,   onco  every  two   nnniths,  by  the 
grand  jury  of  St.  Louis,  for  the  last  ten  years.     Not  one  solitary 
redeeming  feature  is  found  in  it ;  and  such  arc  its  sitinition,  con- 
struction, and  arrangements  that  the  moral  improvement  of  the 
prisoners  and  even  any  systematic  attempt*  at  such  irnprovcnicnt 
arc  rendered  well  nigh  impossil)le.     The  cells  are  eight  feet  .s(|iiuic 
and  ten  high;  and  furnished  with  a  bunk  and  one  stool  or  cliaii'. 
At  the  time  of  our  visit,   each  of  these  cells  contained  from  three 
to  six  inmates ;  the  average  number,  wo  Avero  informed,  is  alxmt 
four.     A\\  the  light  and  air,  admitted  for  the  use  of  the  human 
beings  packed  into  these  apartments,  come  through  a  slit  in  the 
wall,  three  and  a  half  inches  wide  by  about  tivc  feet  high.     Tlio 
bunk  may  hold  three  persons,  if  they  arc  well  crowded  together; 
all  beyond  that  number  must  sleep  on  tho  floor.     There  is  no 
sewerage  ;  everything  nmst  I»e  carried  out,  as  well  as  brought  in, 
by  hand.     There  is  no  water-closet  for  the  prisoners  ;  and  only 
onco  a  day  is  the  slop   bucket  removed,  whatever  sickness  may 
prevail ;  tho  rest  of  the  time  it  remains  in  the  cell,  covered  with 
a  filthy  cloth.     Two  meals  a  day  arc  handed  in  in  tin  pans,  to  bo 
eaten  in  the  cells,  the  men  sitting  on  the  bed  or  floor.    "  In  short," 
observes   Dr.   Elliott,  "  the  whole  monotonous  routine  of  tiielr 
dreary  lives,  day  and  night,  in  sickness  and  health,  in  sununer  ami 
winter,  sometimes  for  twelve  consecutive  montns,   is  passed  in 
that  little  stono   box,  containing  six  hundred  and  forty  cubic  feet 
of  air.    Try  to  realize  the  situation  for  a  moment,  if  you  can,    liy 
the  sanitary  regulations  of  military  hospitals  twelve  hundred  cubic 
feet  of  air  is  allowed  to  every  patient  in  a  well  ventilated  room. 
In  these  cells,  with  four  prisoners,  without  ventilation,  six  hun- 
dred and  forty  feet  is  allowed,  giving  only  one  hundred  and  m.dij 
feet  to  each  man,  that  is  to  say,  four  foot  square  on  the  floor,  by 


UNITED  STATES   AND   CANADA^ 


319 


ton  foot  high.  A  box  to  hold  u  grand  piiiiHi,  ^  np  on  end,  '.voidd 
not  ho  fur  from  the  ru(|uh'(>d  (linicnsions.  If  six  nhould  be  con- 
tilled  in  a  cidl,  which  HoinrtinicH  hiippi  iim,  und  at  tho  rate  crinio  la 
now  incrciuiing  is  niiro  to  happen,  a  hir«;<>  NUgur  hogshead  would 
till  alioiit  the  space  allowed  to  each  of  them."  How  peNtileiitinl 
niiiMt  bo  the  moral  atmoMphero  of  these  crowihul  cells,  where 
oinploymcnt  is  imposriiblo  ;  where  reading  is  almost  eciimlly  no, 
an  well  from  want  (»f  light  as  because  of  the  noise  and  tntniilt  that 
must  prevail  ;  and  where  the  professional  bnrglar  and  thief  and 
tlio  young  transgiessor,  or  perchance  the  wholly  innocent  bo}', 
uro  shut  lip  together,  with  nothing  to  do,  with  nothing  even  prac- 
ticiiblc,  but  to  impart  and  to  receive  lessons  in  crime.  Well  does 
tlie  venerable  doctor  add  to  Avhat  is  cited  from  him  above  : 
"Religions  or  moral  influence  is  out  of  the  question  and  to 
preach  the  gospel  of  Christ  there,  in  that  ilismal  place,  to  those 
kenneic*!  human  beings,  seems  like  a  mockery  before  high  heaven. 
I  have  tried  it  more  than  once,  and  felt  it  to  be  so  ;'an(^  I  havo 
no  doubt  the  prisoners  felt  the  same.  Religious  tracts  arc  received 
with  a  grim  smile,  and  perhaps  some  try  to  read  them  ;  but  tho 
majority  nmst  regard  such  gifts  as  no  better,  under  the  circinr 
stances,  than  a  practical  insult.  *  #  *  #  Alas,  our  practi*  o 
exhorts  to  blasphemy,  while  our  Avords  exhort  to  praise." 

Such  is  tho  county  jail  in  the  great  connnercial  metropolis  of 
the  west,  with  a  population  of  more  than  200,000  souls.  Now, 
what  do  we  find  to  be  the  condition  of  the  same  institution  in 
Jetrcrson  city,  the  capital  of  Missouri  ?  We  visited  it  in  August, 
1H(!.'),  with  mingled  feelings  of  horror  an<l  disgust.  It  has  but 
two  rooms  for  prisoners.  Tho  largest  is  only  fifteen  feet  by  four- 
toon,  with  a  ceiling  not,  wo  think,  exceeding  eight  feet  in  height ; 
which  gives  1,080  cubic  feet.  This  apartment  has  four  windows, 
each  about  one  foot  square,  with  a  dou1)le  set  of  im»(.  >"able  slats, 
Olio  at  the  outer  and  the  other  at  the  inner  surface  of  tho  stone 
wall,  which  till  up  more  than  half  the  space  afforded  for  the 
admission  of  light  and  air.  It  is  so  dark  that  ii  is  quite  impossi- 
ble to  read,  without  a  lamp,  even  close  tr  :•  window,  and  on  tho 
lightest  summer  da}'.  Into  this  kennel,  this  dungeon,  whenever 
there  happen  to  1)0  female  prisoners,  arc  thrust  all  tho  men  and 
boys  who  are  in  the  jail,  to  the  number,  sometimes,  of  ten  or 
lit'toon.  When  the  latter  of  these  numbers  are  in  confinement, 
each  one  has  just  112  cubic  feet  of  air  for  his  use,  and  a  space  on 
the  floor  at  night  two  feet  wide  by  seven  feet  long.     And  this  iu 


320 


PRISONS  AND    REFORMATORIES  OF  THB 


a  laud  which  claims  to  be  christian  I  Fifteen  human  beings 
crammed  into  such  a  space,  with  absolutely  no  ventilation  I  Think 
of  their  passing  a  night  there,  with  the  thermometer  at  90  deg., 
as  it  was  at  the  time  of  our  visit.  It  is  the  "  black  hole  of  Cal- 
cutta," repeated  Avith  aggravations  I  No  words  could  paint  such 
barbarism  in  darker  colors  than  the  simple  statement  of  the  facts, 
as  just  given.  The  other  room  is  rather  smaller,  but  it  has  one 
lai'ge  window,  that  is,  large  comparatively  ;  which  gives  more  air 
and  light.  When  there  are  no  women  in  jail,  the  men  occupy 
both  rooms,  and  are  a  little  better  accommodated.  This  jail  at 
Jefferson  city,  we  were  told,  is  a  fair  specimen  of  the  county  pri- 
sons throughout  Missouri.  It  was  a  relief  to  be  informed  that 
there  are  many  counties  in  the  state,  which  have  no  jails.  It 
would  be  a  blessing  if  what  there  are  could  be  utterly  demolished. 

We  paid  a  hasty  visit — though  quite  long  enough — to  the 
count}'  jail  in  Indianapolis,  the  seat  of  government  of  the  great 
state  or  Indiana.  It  is  the  old  story — promiscuous  association, 
mutual  contamination,  cramped  and  crowded  cells,  no  work,  no 
books,  no  healthful  moral  influences — everj'thing,  in  a  word,  dis 
gusting,  repellant,  and  demoralizing. 

We  found  things  in  much  the  same  condition  in  the  jail  in 
Louisville,  the  chief  city,  though  not  the  capital,  of  Kentucky. 
We  saw  one  group  of  prisoners  busy  at  a  game  of  cards,  which 
did  not  appear  to  be  forbidden,  as  it  was  done  openly  and  before 
the  e^'cs  of  the  officers.  But  we  have  no  heart  for  extended 
details. 

The  government  of  the  jails,  in  the  several  counties  of  Kentucky, 
is  in  the  hands  of  the  county  court,  a  board  of  three  countj'  officers, 
corresponding  in  many  of  their  functions,  though  with  material 
differences  to  our  boards  of  supervisors.  In  Kentucky  the  she ritts 
are  not,  as  they  ai'e  in  most  of  our  states,  the  keepers  of  the  jails 
and  custodians  of  their  Inm.itcs;  but  the  jailors  are  special  officers, 
chosen  by  popular  vote,  in  the  same  maimer  and  for  a  like  term 
of  office  as  the  sherifis.  The  state  pays  the  board  of  all  prisoners 
confined  in  the  jails,  at  the  rate  of  seventy-tive  cents  a  day,  or  five 
dollars  and  twenty-five  cents  per  week.  Other  expenses,  such  as 
fu  I,  bedding,  clothing,  medical  attendance,  &c.,  &c.,  are  met  by 
the  counties.  The  same  system,  substantially  obtains  in  Missouri- 
We  cannot  affiim  positively,  but  our  impression  is,  that  the  jailors 
get  no  remunenitiou  for  their  services,  other  than  the  profits  made 
on  the  board  of  the  prisoners.     Wo  kuow  that  such  is  the  fact  as 


UNITED  STATES  AND  CANADA. 


321 


regards  the  jail  in  St.  Louis,  where  the  keeper  receives  eighty  ceuts 
a  day,  equal  to  $5.60  a  week,  for  each  hiraate.  But,  in  a  prison 
averaging  perhaps  a  hundred  or  more  inmates,  this  compensation 
is  not  onlj'^  ample,  but  munificent;  for  we  cannot  suppose  that,  at 
the  outside,  it  will  cost  more  than  ten  to  fifteen  cents  a  day  to  feed 
men  the  way  they  are  fed  in  jail. 

The  common  jail  in  the  city  of  Cincinnati,  is  an  imposing  and 
costly  structure,  built  of  hewn  stone,  with  mterior  arrangements  f 
a  very  complicated  and  unique,  but  to  us,  unpleasing  character.  Dis- 
cipline, however,  we  found  utterly  wanting  there.  Though  the  pri- 
soners were  confined  in  separate  cells,  it  was  the  noisiest  and  most 
disorderly  prison  we  ever  visited.  They  talked  and  shouted  to  one 
another  without  restraint.  As  far  as  appeared,  the  keeper  had  no 
control  over  them  whatever;  and  the  jail  must  be,  as  administered 
at  the  time  of  our  visit,  anything  but  a  school  of  reform,  or  even 
of  decency. 

The  common  jails  in  our  own  state  are  in  a  deplorable  condi- 
tion; utterly  unworthy  of  our  civilization,  and  of  the  renown  and 
fame  we  have  acquired  among  our  sister  states  and  the  nations  of 
the  world.  Their  general  characteristics  (happily  some  exceptions 
exist  to  a  pait  of  the  counts)  are:  insecurity,  bad  ventilation,  over- 
crowding, too  great  facility  for  communication  with  the  outside 
world,  promiscuous  association  of  all  ages  and  grades  of  criminals 
of  the  same  sex,  and  consequent  mutual  contamination,  abundance  of 
vermin,  absence  of  employment,  want  of  libraries  and  neglect  of 
iutellcotuid  and  moral  culture.  We  will  not  go  into  detail  here, 
us  these  things  are  spread  out,  ad  nauseam,  in  the  annual  reports 
of  the  Prison  A^s^)ciation. 

It  will  have  been  seen,  from  a  statement  in  the  introduction, 
that  the  luidersigned  prepared  an  extended  series  of  interrogatorise 
on  county  jails.  These  were  extensively  distributed;  but  we 
received  only  three  responses,  viz.,  from  sheriff  William  P.  Graf- 
ton, of  Illinois;  warden  Thomas  C.  James,  of  Maryland;  and 
secretary  F.  B.  Sanborn,  of  Massachusetts.  We  submit  a  resume 
of  the  information  furnished  in  these  papers. 

Mr.  Crafton  is,  or  at  le.ast  in  1865  was,  sherit!  of  Sangamon 
county,  Illinois,  and,  as  such,  keeper  of  the  jail  in  Springfield. 
From  his  communication  wo  learn  the  following  facts:  There  are 
102  counties  in  the  state,  but  not  more  than  about  eighty  jails. 
There  is  no  central  authority,  iiaving  a  general  charge  and  supe- 
rintendence of  these  prisons.     The  sheriff  of  each  county  has  con- 

[Assem.  No.  37.]  ,  U 


Ih 


iii/i 


di 


322 


PRISONS  AND  REFORMATORIES  OF  THE 


trol  of  the  jail,  and  it  is  made  the  duty  of  the  grand  jury,  at  every 
term  of  the  circuit  court  of  the  county,  to  examine  the  jail  and 
report  its  condition  to  the  coui-t;  the  consequence  of  which  is  that 
the  system  lacks  unity,  and  there  is  no  uniformity  in  its  manage- 
ment. No  statistics  are  kept,  except  a  simple  record  of  commit- 
ments and  discharges;  and  even  the  books  in  which  these  items 
are  registered,  are  the  property  of  the  sheriffs  and  not  of  the  coun- 
ties. No  returns  of  jail  statistics  are  required  by  laAV  to  be  made 
to  any  board  or  officer  of  the  state.  The  number  of  commitments 
of  males  to  the  Springfield  jail  increased  largely  during  the  war, 
a  remarkable  fact,  if  there  is  no  mistake  about  it,  since  it  is  differ- 
ent from  the  state  of  things  as  reported  to  us  everywhere  else. 
Sheriff  Craftou  states  that  the  increase  in  female  commitments  is 
not  so  perceptible  in  the  county  jail,  adding:  "  You  should  con- 
sult the  records  of  the  city  calaboose  for  an  answer  to  this  ques- 
tion, as  the  demoralizing  effect  of  war  is  developed  by  licentious- 
ness in  the  female,  and  leads  her  into  offences  which  the  city  gov- 
ernment has  made  special  provision  to  punish;  and  as  the  judicial 
machinery  of  the  city  is  running  all  the  time,  it  swallows  up  all 
the  petty  crimes  which  show  the  pernicious  influence  of  war." 
He  adds  a  statement  of  a  most  painful  and  astounding  character,  in 
these  words:  "Perhaps  the  question  is  fully  answered  by  citing 
the  fact  that  more  divorces  were  applied  for  and  granted  at  the 
last  term  of  court  than  during  the  whole  period  of  the  county's 
history  since  1821."  About  one-third  of  the  prisoners  received 
are  of  foreign  birth.  Intemperance,  Sabbath-breach,  licentious- 
ness and  gambling  characterize  nearly  all  who  arc  conmiittod. 
Something  like  seventy  per  cent  of  those  committed  are  l)rought 
to  trial,  of  whom  about  ten  per  cent  plead  guilty,  and  fifty  per 
cent  are  convicted  by  juries.  Not  more  than  two  per  cent  of  the 
prisoners  in  Springfield  jail  are  undergoing  sentences  of  imprison- 
ment; all  the  rest  arc  awaiting  trial.  The  average  length  of  sen- 
tences in  jail  is  about  six  months.  Imprisonment  for  debt  is  legal 
in  Illinois,  but  io  seldom  resorted  to,  when  the  the  plaintiff  has 
the  board  to  pay.  The  defendant  can  always  release  himself 
from  confinement  by  schedulirj  the  amount  of  his  property;  if  it 
be  more  than  the  law  exempts  from  execution,  the  excess  is  pro- 
qeeded  against;  if  less,  he  is  discharged.  Witnesses  are  not  im- 
prisoned to  secure  their  attendance;  all  the  security  required  is 
their  personal  recognizance.  Jailors  are  remunerated  by  fees, 
and  not  by  salaries.     The  sheriff  boards  the  prisoners  at  so  much 


tNITEt)  STATES  AND  CANADA. 


323 


per  week,  but  the  sum  allowed  is  not  stated.  Clothing  is  supplied 
to  prisoners,  when  necessaiy,  at  the  expense  of  the  counties.  The 
compensation  of  the  medical  oflScers  of  the  jails  is  by  salaries, 
and  not  by  fees.  No  employment  is  provided  for  the  prisoners, 
nor  are  there  any  libraries  furnished  at  the  public  expense;  what- 
ever books  the  prisoners  have  to  read  are  loaned  by  the  sheriff,  or 
prd^vided  by  their  friends  or  themselves.  There  are  no  chaplains 
or  schoolmasters;  nor  is  the  lack  of  religious  and  secular  instruc- 
tion, consequent  on  the  neglect  of  the  authorities,  supplied,  to  any 
great  extent,  by  volunteer  workers.  Bibles,  however,  are  pro- 
vided; but  to  what  extent  is  not  stated.  They  av?  x^ot  extonsively 
read,  newspapers  and  yellow-covered  novels  being  geneially  pre- 
ferred. Therg  is  no  fixed  dietary;  each  sheriff  supplies  rations 
at  his  own  discretion.  As  a.  general  thing,  little  attention  is  paid 
to  ventilation  in  the  construction  of  jails.  Drink,  gambling  and 
licentiousness  are  regarded  as  the  most  active  causes  of  crime  in 
the  state.  Sheriffs  are  chosen  by  popular  suffrage,  and  are  not 
immediately  re-eligible.  Prison  officers  are  usually  changed  as 
often  as  once  in  two  years,  the  effect  of  which  is  found  to  be  every 
way  bad. 

Sheriff  Grafton  has  appended  to  his  paper  a  presentment  of  the 
grand  jury,  in  which  the  jail  of  Sangamon  county  is  denounced 
as  "totally  inadequate"  to  its  purposes;  as  "insecure  and 
unsafe,"  it  being  "necessary  to  employ  a  special  guard  to  pre- 
vent escapes;"  and  as  having  "cells  so  small  and  so  badly  venti- 
lated that  confinement  in  them  during  the  summer  is  cruel  and 
inhuman." 

From  the  communication  of  Mr.  Thomas  C.  James,  warden  of 
the  Baltimore  city  jail,  we  glean  the  following  information  con- 
cerning the  county  jails  of  Maryland:  There  are  twenty-one 
counties  in  the  state,  each  of  which  has  a  jail,  in  addition  to  which 
the  city  of  Baltimore  has  one  of  its  own.  There  is  no  central 
authority  having  a  supervision  and  control  over  the  whole  system  of 
county  prisoni*.  In  place  of  such  a  board,  the  sheriff  of  each 
county  has  control  of  the  jail  in  said  county,  and  in  Baltimore 
city  the  warden  of  the  city  jail  has  charge,  under  the  direction  of 
a  board  of  visitors,  composed  of  five  gentlemen  appointed 
annually  by  the  mayor  and  city  council.  There  is,  consequently, 
no  uniformity  in  the  management  of  the  jails  throughout  the 
state.  In  Baltimore  city  jail,  the  commitments  and  their  causes, 
as  well  as  the  discharges  and  their  methods,  are  kept  with  fullness 


324 


PRISONS   AND   REFORMATORIES  OF    THE 


and  accuracy;  but  the  social,  national,  educational,  industrial, 
moral  and  religious  relations  of  the  prisoners  are  not  recorded. 
The  jails  throughout  the  state  are  required  to  keep  statistics  of 
all  committals  to  their  custody  and  the  causes  thereof,  together 
with  all  discharges  therefrom.  In  the  counties,  the  jail-books 
belong  to  the  sheriffs,  but  in  the  jaU  of  Baltimore  they  are  the 
property  of  the  city.  In  the  latter  jjrison,  full  returns  of  "jail 
statistics  are  required  to  ^  e  made  annually  to  the  mayor  and 
city  council,  but  such  letn^-ns  are  not  exacted  of  the  several, 
county  jails.  The  number  «  "  men  committed  to  the  Baltimore 
city  jail  during  the  war,  charged  with  a  violation  of  the  civil 
la^vs,  was  less  than  it  had  been  before  the  war,  or  has  been  since 
its  close.  There  was  a  moderate  increase  of  female  commitments 
during  the  war,  but  the  percentage  was  not  large.  About  three- 
fourths  of  the  prisoners  committed  to  Baltimore  city  jail  have  been 
previously  inmates  of  the  same.  The  proportion  of  foreigners 
committed  is  not  far  from  one-fifth.  Not  less  than  four-fifths  of 
the  prisoners  in  this  jail  are  of  intemperate  habits.  Three-fifths 
of  the  prisoners  committed  to  all  the  county  jails  are,  on  an  aver 
age,  brought  to  trial.  The  length  of  sentence  in  Baltimore  city 
jail  extends,  generally,  from  one  week  to  si:  months,  and  in  some 
coses  it  is  prolonged  to  one  and  even  two  years.  The  system  of 
separate  imprisonment  is  adopted  in  Baltimore  ciiy  and  Baltimore 
county  jails,  but  not  in  the  others.  Only  one  prisoner  in  those 
two  jails  is  confined  in  each  cell,  except  when  the  nomber  of  pri- 
sonors  exceeds  the  number  of  cells,  of  which  theio  are  three 
hundred  for  solitary  confinement,  besides  some  rooms  of  larger 
size.  The  Yomen  are  confined  in  a  separate  part  of  the  building 
from  thfe  men,  and  parties  committed  for  breach  of  the  peace, 
court  cases,  sentenced  prisoners,  &c.,  are  each- confined  in  difterent 
parts  of  the  prison,  according  to  the  nature  of  the  charges  against 
them.  There  is  no  imprisonment  for  debt  in  the  state  of  Mary- 
land; ))ut  witnesses  are  frequently  imprisoned  to  secure  their  tes- 
mony.  Persons  imprisoned  as  witnesses  are  usually  compensated  for 
the  time  lost  by  their  imprisonment.  The  officers  of  Baltimore 
city  jail  are  remunerated  by  fixed  salaries  ;  but  in  the  counties  the 
sheriflSj  receive  a,  per  diem  for  all  prisoners  confined,  and  out  of 
the  sum  so  received,  furnish  food  and  other  supplies.  Necessary 
clothing  is  provided  for  the  inmates  of  the  jails.  The  cost  of 
Baltimore  city  jail,  including  the  lot  on  which  it  stands,  was  (say) 
$350,000.     The  average   annual   cost  of  each   prisoner  therein 


tJNITEB  STATES  AND  CANADA. 


325 


including  all  expenses  other  than  the  interest  on  the  jail  property, 
was,  for  1861,  $116.80  ;  for  1862,  $105.85  ;  for  1863,  $93.07  ;  for 
1864,  $153.30 ;  and  for  1865,  155.12.  For  the  same  years,  the 
average  cost  per  prisoner,  including  interest  as  aforesaid,  was 
$193.45;  $195.27;  $155.12;  $240.90;  and  $242.72.  In  Balti- 
more city  jail,  sentenced  prisoners  are  hired  out  by  contract,  and 
are  employed  in  the  workshop  of  the  prison  ;  other  prisoners  are 
employed  in  cleaning,  white-washing,  and  in  various  other  ways. 
A  library  is  provided  therein  for  the  use  of  the  inmates.  Heligi- 
ous  services  are  held  in  the  prison  chapel  every  Sabbath  afternoon, 
under  the  direction  of  a  committee  of  the  American  Tract  Society, 
by  G.  S.  Griffith,  Esq.,  chairman,  assisted  by  clergymen  of  various 
denominations ;  and  much  valuable  religious  reading  matter  is 
distributed  to  the  prisoners  on  those  occasions.  The  jails  are 
extensively  supplied  Avith  Bibles  by  the  liberality  of  the  Mary- 
land Bible  Society.  As  a  general  thing,  the  prisoners  use  their 
copies  carefully,  but  in  some  cases  it  is  otherwise.  In  Baltimore 
city  jail,  there  is  a  weekly  bill  of  fare,  varied  daily,  but  in  the 
county  jails,  each  sheriif  provides  rations  according  to  his  own 
judgment.  The  former  is  admirably  ventilated  ;  the  others  but 
poorly.  Ample  bathing  facilities  are  provided  here,  but  not  else- 
where. Almost  the  only  punishment  in  this  jail  is  confinement  in 
dark  cells ;  and  this  even  is  infrequent,  considering  the  large  num- 
ber of  prisoners  confined.  Moral  means  are  in  all  cases  employed, 
until  they  are  found  to  be  unavailing,  and  other  measures  become 
indispensable.  Drunkenness  and  prostitution  are  regarded  as  the 
most  active  causes  of  crime.  Sherifis  are  elected,  not  appointed, 
in  Maryland  ;  and  they  are  not  re-eligible  for  two  years  from  the 
expiration  of  their  term  of  office.  It  very  seldom  happens  that 
they  are  re-elected  afterward.  In  Baltimore  city  jail,  the  officers  are 
not  often  changed;  elsewhere,  changes  are  more  frequent.  This  jail 
is  inspected  by  the  I  oard  of  visitors,  at  their  pleasure.  They  con- 
stitute a  standing  committee  for  that  purpose,  as  also  for  control- 
ing  all  matters  coriuected  wit)>  the  government  of  the  jail.  The 
prison  is  likewise  inspected  t,y  the  several  grand  juries  of  the 
criminal  court.  Both  classes  of  inspection  are  provided  for  by 
law ;  and  the  examinaliong,  so  required,  are  faithfully  and 
thoroughly  performed. 

From  the  answers  of  Mr.  Sanborn,  secretary  of  the  Missachu- 
setts  board  of  state  charities,  we  gather  the  following  concerning 
the  common  jails  of  that  state  :  There  are  but  fourteen  counties 


326 


?BISONB  AND  BEFOBMATOBIES  OF  THE 


i! 


in  the  state,  yet  there  are  t^vonty  jails ;  that  is,  there  are  six  coun- 
ties that  have  two  jails  each.  On  this  subject,  Mr.  Sanborn  says  : 
<'  I  think  one  jail  in  each  county  quite  sufficient.  The  grounds  of 
my  opinion  arc  these  :  1.  The  supposed  necessity  for  several  jails 
arises  from  the  fact  that  courts  are  held  in  several  places,  in  each 
of  which  a  jail  has  been  thought  necessary.  But  the  railroad 
facilities  are  now  so  great,  'hat  prisoners  can  be  brought  with 
ease  from  any  part  of  the  coimty  to  the  court,  as  they  nro  v,n,  ted 
for  trial.  Moreover,  there  aro  town  prisons  now  required  by  isl^v, 
so  that  there  is  less  need  of  county  prisons  for  temponuy  <lct«n.- 
tion.  2.  The  great  number  of  our  jails  interferes,  serioujly,  with 
any  attempt  to  reform  the  prisoners,  wlio  ure  scattered  in  small 
prisons  through  the  state,  and  deprived,  in  consequence,  of  sys- 
tematic treatment  and  instruction.  3.  The  insprction  of  jails  by 
thfc  state,  which  I  believe  desirable,  would  be  much  facilitated  b\' 
Laving  fewei  jails." 

There  is  n<.  ccntnil  authority  in  Massachusetts  having  a.  general 
control  of  the  jail  sj^nli^m,  but  each  jail  is  in  charge  of  the  county 
commissionors  fur  Ihc  county  in  which  it  is  situated  ;  the  consc' 
quence  of  a*  hich  ij,  that  there  is  nothing  like  uniformity  in  the 
managenicnt  of  the  jails  throughout  the  state.  Mr.  Sanborn 
regards  such  an  organization  as  highly  objectionable,  and  in  regard 
to  it  remarks  :  "  The  evils  which  flow  from  a  want  of  uniformity 
are  the  same  here  as  elsewhere.  Whatever  is  managed  regularly, 
and  according  to  a  knowledge  of  principles,  is  more  likely  to  be 
well  managed  than  what  is  left  to  local  custom  or  the  whim  of 
t  liose  in  authority  at  any  given  time  and  place.  Greater  uniformity 
w  ould  economize  time  and  money,  and  would  make  the  labor  of  the 
prisoners  of  greater  account  and  their  reformation  more  attainable." 

The  statistics  of  the  jails  in  Massachusetts  arc  kept  with  a  good 
degree  of  fullness  and  accuracy.  They  include  commitments  and 
their  causes,  discharges  and  their  methods,  and  the  national,  social, 
educatiaual,  industrial,  moral  and  religious  relations  ot  the  prison- 
ers. It  is  made  by  law  obligatory  on  the  sheriffs  to  keep  full 
registers,  embracing  the  items  above  stated.  The  books  in  which 
these  registers  are  kept  belong  to  the  counties,  and  not  to  the 
sheriffs.  Full  returns  of  jail  statistics  must  be  made  periodically 
to  the  board  of  state  charities.  Mr.  Sanborn  furnishes  the  follow- 
ing table,  showing  the  number  of  male  and  female  prisoners  com- 
mitted to  the  county  prisons — both  jails  and  houses  of  correction— 
for  eleven  years,  viz  :  1854-— 1864  inclusive : 


UNITED  STATES   AND  GANADA. 


827 


Jails. 

Honsis  or  Corrbotiok. 

Totals. 

YEARS. 

^.4 

1 

1 

a 
1^ 

ill 

•3 

S 

1 

.5  • 

.Si 

S 

-3 

13,604 

14,369 

12,616 

10,649 

12,060 

10,829 

9,756 

9,011 

7,106 

6,142 

5,097 

• 

S 

"5 
i 

1854 

1855 

1856 

1857 

1858 

1859 

^360 

1361 

1862 

1883 

1884 

11,526 

12,858 
9,419 
7,903 
8,603 
8.286 
6,752 
5,693 
5,211 
5,568 
4,933 

9,819 
10,819 
8,775 
6,675 
7,390 
6,716 
5,766 
4,689 
3,967 
3,768 
3,180 

1,652 
2,036 
626 
1,228 
1,213 
1,679 
1,031 
1,013 
1,244 
1,797 
1,752 

4,7.14 
4,599 
4,936 
6,169 
5,996 
6,180 
6,012 
6,424 
4,494 
3,823 
3,184 

3,738 
8,550 
3,840 
3,974 
4,660 
4,113 
4,000 
4,.322 
3,139 
2,374 
1,917 

999 
1,048 
1,090 
1,196 
1,386 
1,089 
1,012 
1,154 
1,355 
1,449 
1,267 

16,260 

17,457 

14,355 

13,072 

14,599 

13,466 

11,764 

11,117 

»,705 

9,391 

8,116 

2,651 
3,074 
1,716 
2,423 
2,649 
2,668 
2,043 
2,167 
2,599 
3,246 
3,010 

It  appears  from  the  foregoing  table  that  the  number  of  men 
committed  to  the  county  prisons  during  the  years  covered  by  the 
late  war,  was  considerably  less  than  it  had  been  prior  to  that  time, 
while  the  number  of  women  committed  was  greater,  absolutely, 
than  before,   and  very  far  in  excess  relatively.    In  1854,  the 
females  were  only  one  in  seven  of  the  whole  number  of  inmates 
of  the  jails,  while  in  1863,  they  were  very  nearly  one  in  three  ;  a 
a  startling  increase  in  female  criminality.    The  average  daily  num- 
ber in  the  jails,  for  the  last  ten  years,  has  been  from  300  to  500 ; 
for  the  last  two  or  three  years,  but  little  more  than  300.     Nearly 
one-half  of  the  prisoners  in  jail  are  recommittals,  and  seventy  per 
cent,  are  foreigners.     A  full  third  of  those  committed  nre  unable 
to  read  at  all,  and  of  those  registered  as  possessing  thai  ability, 
many  have  but  a  very  imperfect    mastery  of  the  art.     Three- 
fourths,  at  least,  are  intemperate.     Eight  per  cent,  are  undergoing 
sentences  pursuant  to  conviction,  the  average  length  of  their  sen- 
tences being  about  four  months.       Promiscuous  assoi^tion  of 
prisoners,  with  all  its  corrupting  influences,  exists  to  a  great  ex- 
tent ;  there  being,  in  general,  no  classification  other  than  the  sepa- 
ration of  the  sexes.     Imprisonment  for  debt  is  confined  to  cases  of 
fraud  or  an  intention  to  evade  payment  by  leaving  the  state.    But 
few  cases  of  such  imprisonment  occur.     Witnesses  are  frequently 
imprisoned  to  secure  their  testimony,  and  are  only  in  part  com- 
pensated for  the  time  thus  lost.    The  officers  of  the  jails  receive 
compensation  in  the  form  of  fixed  salaries.     The  custom  of  re- 
munerating officers  by  fees,  which  formerly  existed,  was  found  to 
lead  to  the  imprisonment  of  persons  merely  for  the  sake  of  the 
fees.    Besides  doing  away  with  this  evil,  the  method  of  payment 


« 


328 


PRISONS  AND   REFORMATORIES  Ot   THE 


by  salaries  is  thought  to  bo  more  economical.  The  rations  of  the 
prisoners^  are  supplied  at  actual  cost,  so  that  sheriff's  make  no 
profit  out  of  their  board.  Mr.  Sanborn  thinks  this  method  much 
the  preferable  one,  and  that  it  should  bo  continued  "  until  angels 
are  jailors."  Clothing  is  supplied  to  prisoners  when  needed. 
Medical  service  is  paid  for  in  some  jails  by  salary,  and  in  others 
by  fees.  The  aggregate  annual  cost  of  medicines  and  medical 
attendance  in  all  the  jails  of  the  state  is  $3,000.  The  average 
annual  cost  of  each  prisoner,  including  all  expenses  other  than  the 
interest  on  the  value  of  the  real  estate  belonging  to  the  jails,  is 
about  $180.  The  actual  cost  of  the  real  estate  aforesaid  was  (say) 
$1,000,000;  the  estimated  value  now  is  about  $500,000.  Jail 
prisoners  are  seldom  provided  with  remunerative  employment, 
though  this,  it  is  thought,  would  be  entirely  practicable.  Libra- 
ries are  generally  provided  for  the  nse  of  the  prisoners,  and  about 
one-half  of  the  jails  have  chaplains.  In  the  jails  without  chap- 
lains, no  provision  is  made  to  meet  the  moral  and  religious  wants 
of  the  inmates,  except  in  some  cases  by  Sunday  schools.  Bibles 
are  supplied  to  the  jails  at  the  expense  of  the  corfnties,  frequently 
one  in  every  cell.  By  about  one-half  the  prisoners  they  are  used 
Carefully;  by  the  others  they  are  apt  to  be  abused.  There  is  no 
uniform  dietary  in  the  jails,  though,  usually,  each  jail  has  its  own 
bill  of  fare,  regulated  by  the  sheriff  and  county  commissioners. 
Good  rations  are  provided;  there  is  no  fault  to  be  found  on  that 
score.  The  jails  recently  built  are  well  constructed,  both  for 
ventilation  and  the  admission  of  light ;  some  of  the  old  ones  arc 
objectionable  in  these  respects,  particularly  as  to  ventilation.  The 
jails  are  in  a  good  condition  as  to  cleanliness,  being  often  thor- 
oughly scrubbed,  and  whitewashed  once  a  month.  The  -itans  of 
bathing  «re  every  where  provided.  The  only  punishment  used  is 
the  dark  cell,  and  this  is  not  often  found  necessary.  The  separa- 
tion of  the  sexes  is  not  so  perfect  as  to  prevent  all  communication. 
Insane  prisoners  are  not  often  received  into  the  jails,  but  when 
this  happens,  they  are  sent  to  the  state  hospitals.  The  jails  of 
Massachusetts  are  regarded  as  generally  secure.  Idleness  and 
the  various  forms  of  self-indulgence  are  believed  to  be  the  most 
active  causes  of  crime.  Mr.  Sanborn's  individual  opinion  is  that, 
upon  the  whole,  the  jails  of  Massachusetts  are  promotive  rather 
than  repressive  of  crime.  The  reform  he  proposes  is  "  a  thorough 
classification  of  the  prisoners,  with  a  system  of  marks  which  would 
enable  each  prisoner  to  promote  his  own  comforts  and  secure  an 


UNITBD  STATI8  AND  CANADA. 


829 


early  discharge  by  good  conduct,"  and  "  a  change  in  the  spirit  of 
prison  officers  who  generally  do  not  believe  in  the  practicability  of 
reforming  their  prisoners."  Sheriffs  are  elected  by  popular  vote; 
they  are  re-eligible;  and,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  they  are  almost 
always  re-elected.  Prison  officers  are  not  often  changed.  Inspec- 
tion of  the  jails  is  provided  for  by  law.  On  this  subject  Mr.  San- 
born remarks  :  "The  county  commissioners  ore  inspectors,  except 
in  Suffolk,  where  our  largest  jail  is.  The  Suffolk  jail,  since  May, 
1864,  has  been,  by  law,  exempt  from  inspection,  except  as  the 
board  of  state  charities  have  that  duty,  in  connexion  with  others. 
The  inspection  by  the  commissioners  is  probably  formal  in  most 
cases.  The  board  of  charities  has  a  general  power  of  inspection, 
which  has  been  chiefly  exercised  by  its  secretary." 

The  common  jail  system  of  Connecticut  is,  in  some  respects, 
peculiar ;  and  it  has  in  it  points  of  interest  which  will  repay  a 
careful  study.  Connecticut  is  a  thrifty  little  commonwealth,  and 
its  thrift  appears  conspicuously  in  the  management  of  its  jails. 
Every  jail  in  this  state  is  also  a  workhouse.  All  sentenced  prison- 
ers are  required  to  work  "  according  to  their  strength  and  ability;  " 
and  all  others  are  provided  with  work  if  they  desire  it,  which 
more  commonly  than  otherwise  is  the  case.  This  feature  murks  a 
broad  distinction  between  the  jail  system  of  Connecticut  and  those 
of  the  other  states.  The  financial  results  of  this  system,  in  coun- 
ties where  it  is  skillfully  and  vigorously  carried  out,  are  remark- 
able. It  should  be  stated  that  Connecticut  pays,  out  of  the  pub- 
lic treasury,  to  the  several  counties,  the  board  of  all  their  jail 
prisoners,  at  the  rate  of  $3.00  each  a  week,  except  in  the  case  of 
a  few,  which  refuse  to  receive  more  than  $2.50,  the  amount  allowed 
prior  to  1863.  The  payments  thus  received  from  the  state  treas- 
ury, added  to  the  avails  of  the  prisoners'  labor,  together  constitute 
a  sum  sufficient,  in  several  of  the  eight  counties  of  the  state,  to 
defray  not  merely  the  entire  expenses  of  the  jails,  but  all  the  ordi- 
nary and  extraordinary  expenditures  of  the  counties  themselves, 
so  that,  in  one  case  at  least,  not  a  dollar  has  been  exacted  of  the 
citizens  for  county  purposes,  during  a  period  of  more  than  twenty 
years. 

This  statement,  on  its  face,  will  appear  so  incredible,  that  we 
are  glad  to  be  able  to  fortify  it  by  official  authority.  A  joint  com- 
mittee of  the  legislature  made  a  report,  in  May,  1865,  on  "the 
condition  and  management  of  jails."  C'f  the  jail  in  New  Haven 
county  they  say  :  "This  jail  has  not  only  paid  its  own  expenses 


I  i 


i  1 


d 


330 


PRISONS  AND  REFORMATORIES  Of  TUB 


and  all  the  ordinary  oxponses  of  the  county,  but  has,  since  1S5B, 
paid  the  sum  of  $10,660.1)9  into  the  treasury  of  the  county,  >yhich 
has  been  applied  to  the  puyihent  of  extra  expenses,  and  leaving 
in  the  treasury,  at  the  close  of  the  last  fiscal  year,  a  balance  ot 
$3,132.19."  This  marvellous  result  has  been  lujhieved,  with  an 
average  of  prisoners  not  much,  if  at  all,  exceeding  fifty  iu  number. 

Of  Windham  county  the  committee  remark:  "The  result,  in 
this  county,  of  the  pnident  management  of  its  [the  jail's]  affairs, 
the  manner  of  working  prisoners,  and  the  reasonable  and  honest 
charges  of  its  officials  is,  that  all  the  ordinary  and  the  gn'uter  part 
of  the  extraordinary  expenses  of  the  county,  including  extensive 
repairs  and  additions  to  the  court  house  and  jail,  and  the  erection 
of  now  buildings,  have  been  paid,  and  that  too  without  calling 
upon  the  towns  in  the  county  for  either  tax,  contribution  or  assess- 
ment, for  more  than  twenty  years." 

But  as  there  is  no  central  authority  in  the  state,  having  the 
general  charge  and  superintendence  of  the  jails,  different  systems 
prevail  in  different  counties.  In  two  of  them,  at  least,  the  leasing 
system  obtains,  which  we  found  practised  in  Illinois  and  Kentucky  in 
reference  to  the  stute  prison.  As  regards  this  plan,  we  are  not 
surprised  to  find  the  committee  using  the  following  language : 
"The  practice  of  farming  out  the  prisons  and  prisoners,  your  com- 
mittee regards  as  most  objectionable.  It  places  the  jails  entirely 
iu  the  hands  of  the  jailors,  and  is  liable  to  many  abuses.  It  is 
wrong  in  principle  and  pernicious  iu  practice,  and  has  ever  proved 
unprofitable  in  those  counties  where  it  has  been  adopted." 

The  joint  committee  accompanied  their  report  with  "  an  act  con- 
cerning prisons,"  the  main  purpose  of  which  was  to  take  the 
charge  and  custody  of  the  jails  "  out  of  the  hands  of  the  sherifls, 
and  to  place  it  in  the  hands  of  special  keepers  appointed  by  the 
county  conunissioners.  In  advocacy  of  the  proposed  change,  the 
committee  say : 

"  The  time  was  when  by  far  the  larger  number  of  commitments 
to  our  jails  were  debtors,  and  the  sheriffs  were  held  responsible 
for  the  suflSciency  of  the  jails,  and  the  safe  keeping  of  the  prisoner. 
But  that  time  has  passed.  Imprisonment  for  debt  has  ceased.  The 
commitments  on  civil  process  arc  /ery  rare.  The  counties  are  held 
responsible  for  the  sufiiciency  of  their  jails,  and  for  the  escape  of 
prisoners  through  their  insufiSciency;  and  the  reason  for  sheriffs 
being  keepers  of  jaih  and  having  power  to  appoint  deputy  keepers 


UNITED  STATU  AND  CANADA. 


881 


having  coasod  to  exist,  this  power  of  theirs  should  also  cease,  and 
should  be  hold  solely  by  the  county  commissioners." 

The  principle  of  the  bill  proposed  o^  the  committee  husbeenin< 
corponited  into  the  legislation  of  New  Jersey,  so  far  as  the  counties 
of  Essex  and  Hudson,  in  that  state,  are  coucernod.  An  act  was 
passed  in  18G7,  transferring  ''the  custody,  rule,  keeping  and 
charge  of  the  jails  in  said  counties"  from  the  sheriffs  of  the  same 
to  the  boards  of  chosen  freeholders  therein,  and  authorizing  those 
boards  to  appoint  keepers  of  the  jails,  to  continue  in  office  five 
years,  unless  sooner  removed  for  cause.  The  same  oct  constitutes 
the  jails  of  the  two  counties  named,  workhouses,  and  requires  "hard 
labor"  of  certain  classes  of  their  inmates.  It  further  authorizes 
the  boords  of  chosen  treeholders  of  the  other  counties  to  adopt  all 
its  provisions  and  fully  to  carry  them  out  in  their  respective  coun- 
ties, whenever  a  majority  shall,  at  a  regular  meeting,  vote  so  to 
do,  and  file  a  certificate  to  that  eflfect  in  the  office  of  the  secretarj^ 
of  state. 

The  Philadelphia  Prison  Society  strongly  urge  that  this  princi- 
ple be  made  practical  in  the  legislation  of  Pennsylvania,  in  a  letter 
addressed  to  the  governor  of  that  state,  under  date  of  December, 
1864.  We  cite  the  following  passage  from  their  communication, 
in  which  the  view  entertained  by  them  is  expressed  with  clearness 
and  force:  "Many  of  the  evils  of  the  county  prisons  (they  say) 
spring  from  the  fact  that  the  sheriff'  of  the  county  is,  ex  officio,  the 
keeper  of  the  prison.  It  is  not  believed  that  men  are  selected  for 
that  important  office  who  are  not  humane  and  just.  But  men  do 
not  seek  the  office  of  sheriflf  for  the  sake  of  being  the  jailor;  and  if 
there  is  any  business  for  the  Bheriff"  to  do  beyond  the  walls  of  the 
prison,  so  much  of  the  time  of  that  functionary  is  taken  from  the 
discharge  of  a  duty  which  he  assumes,  but  which  has  no  affinity 
with  the  other  more  desirable  parts  of  his  official  labors.  Besides, 
the  office  of  a  sheriff  is  not  a  permanency,  while  that  of  a  prison 
keeper  ought  to  be.  The  duties  of  his  place  as  sheriif  must,  if 
discharged,  prevent  the  personal  supervision  of  the  prison  and  the 
prisoners  which  a  jailor  ought  to  give.  And  he  must  be  often 
tempted  to  enlarge  his  small  income  by  such  efforts  at  economy 
as  nnist  tell  hard  upon  the  prisoners,  often  hard  upon  the  county." 
The  society  has  touched  the  kernel  of  the  question  in  what  it  says 
on  the  necessity  of  permanence  in  the  office  of  prison  keeper. 

The  tenure  of  office  in  this  department  of  the  public  service 
should  be  during  good  behavior,  since  prison  keepers,  supposing 


832 


PRISONS  AND   REFORMATORIU  OF   TUB 


thoni  to  possess  nn  originiil  iiptitiulo  for  their  special  dif^o^  ''.^. 
ootno  viiliiiible  in  proportion  U8  their  experience  is  enlnrgeJ. 

In  the  states  of  Kentucky  and  Mitisouri,  as  we  have  hccii,  .iiu 
euro  of  the  common  juils  and  the  custody  of  their  inmaten  are  no 
longer  in  the  hands  of  the  sheritls  of  the  several  counties,  but  arc 
committed  to  a  distinct  class  of  ofHcers,  specially  chosen  to  that 
service.  It  is  true  that  they  are  elected  by  poptdar  vote,  and  arc 
consequent!}'  political  otiicers,  which  is  a  most  objectional)le  fea- 
ture; but  at  least  the  fact  statiul  shows  that  there  is  no  natural, 
and  especially  no  necessary,  connection  between  the  office  of 
shoritf  and  the  custody  of  persons  arrested  on  a  charge  of  crime 
and  detained  in  jail  for  trial. 

Upon  the  whole,  the  result  of  such  inquiries  as  wo  Avero  able 
to  nuiko  into  the  condition  and  administration  of  the  common 
jails  of  the  United  States  is  exceedingly  unsatisfactory.  There 
ire  tt  few  model  prisons  of  this  class  scattered  here  and  there, 
like  oases  is  a  wide  desert,  aniong  which  may  be  named  the  Suf- 
folk county  jail  in  Boston  and  the  Baltimore  city  jail;  but  the 
mass  of  those  prisons  throughout  the  country  are  in  a  deplorable 
state.  Another  Howard  is  needed  to  go  from  jail  to  jail  through 
the  length  and  breadth  of  tho  land,  as  the  great  prison  reformer 
of  tho  last  century  traversed  not  only  the  British  Islands,  but 
almost  tho  entire  continent  of  Europe,  exploring  tho  prisons  of 
many  lands,  and  dragging  their  manifold  and  countless  abuses  to 
tho  light  of  day.  A  now  "State  of  Prisons"  is  wanted,  in  which 
every  jail  in  the  United  States  should  bo  minutely  described, 
after  tho  manner  in  which  Howard,  in  his  "State  of  Prisons," 
dealt  with  the  jails  and  bridewells  of  his  day. 

Our  state  prisons  need  many  and  great  reforms,  as  we  have 
pointed  out  in  a  former  part  of  this  report;  but  the  reforms  needed 
in  our  jails  and  jail  systems  are,  literally,  legion.  In  most  com- 
mon jails  the  old  system  prevails  in  full  force;  the  crowding  of 
prisoners,  confusion  of  crimes,  ages,  and  sometimes  sexes;  the 
mixture  of  indicted  and  convicted  persons,  of  criminals,  debtors, 
and  witnesses;  frequent  escapes;  an  almost  total  absence  of  what 
may  properly  be  called  discipline;  no  silence  loading  the  inmates 
to  reflection;  no  labor  accustoming  them  to  industry;  enforced 
idleness  that  depraves;  few  books;  little  religious  and  no  secular 
instruction;  in  a  word,  tho  assemblage  of  all  vices  and  all  immo- 
ralities. In  hundreds  upon  hundreds  of  these  congregations  of 
prisoners,  the  livelong  day  is  spent  in  talk;  and  what  sort  of  talk? 


UNITED    STATES  AND  CANADA. 


383 


A!j\s!  too  woll  do  wo  know  the  chnrnutor  of  the  conversation  car- 
I'iiMl  on  tiinoiif^  criniinaiN  in  a  prison.  It  relates,  almost  wholly, 
to  the  erinicH  they  perpotnited  het'oro  their  comnilttal,  or  to  those 
which  thoy  ineditato  after  thoir  liberation.  In  snch  convcrNutions, 
each  one  hoautH  of  his  misdceclH;  all  dispnto  for  the  priority  in 
infamy;  and,  in  the  end,  an  eqnili))rinm  in  vice  and  crime  is 
reached  hy  the  whole,  or  nearly  the  whole,  company.  The  less 
advanced  in  crime  listen  eagerly  to  the  greater  villians;  and  the 
bla(:koHt  individual  among  them  becomes  a  type  of  depravity  for 
the  others. 

Such  is  the  painful  and  revolting  picture,  which  truth  compels 
us  to  draw  of  the  groat  majority  of  the  common  jails  of  America; 
and  wo  irrievo  to  say  that  most  of  those  in  our  own  state  form  no 
excoi)tion.  Hero  is  a  work  for  the  friends  of  prison  reform.  The 
whole  system  of  common  jails,  both  in  respect  of  organization 
and  administration,  needs  revolutionizing.  It  is  a  herculean  labor 
which  we  propose,  l)ut  we  feel  confident  that  it  can  bo  done. 
Truth,  patience,  zeal,  activity,  and  co-operutive  effort  are  essential 
elements  in  the  problem;  but,  these  elements  being  given,  the 
solution  of  the  problem,  the  success  of  the  undertaking,  is  certain. 
The  system  as  now  existing  must  be  approached  prudently,  no 
doul)t,  and  in  meekness  of  wisdom;  but,  nevertheless,  it  must  be 
approached,  assailed,  and  battered  with  the  weapons  of  truth,  of 
reason,  of  argument,  and  of  godlike  love,  till  it  is  swept  away  by 
the  force  of  the  assault,  and  a  new  and  better  system  adopted  in 
its  place. 

And  what  shall  that  better  system  be?  We  will  not  under- 
take to  draw  out  a  plan  in  detail,  but  will  content  ourselves  with 
a  few  general  hints. 

1.  We  must  see  to  it  that,  at  least,  the  prisoners  in  our  county 
jails  are  not  made  worse  by  a  residence  in  them,  and  that,  if  pos- 
sible, they  leave  them  improved  in  principles  and  character.  In 
locking  them  up  in  jail  now,  nobody  thinks  of  making  them  bet- 
ter; the  whole  thought  is  that  of  securing  their  persons  and 
repressing  their  malice.  Resti'aint,  coercion,  the  putting  of  fetters 
on  the  will,  if  not  on  the  body — this  expresses  the  whole  policy; 
and  the  effect  is,  that,  instead  of  being  corrected,  they  are  ren- 
dered more  depraved  and  brutal  than  before.  But  this  is  all 
wrong.  These  arrested  persons  are  precisely  those  for  whom 
well  constructed  and  well  governed  prisons  are  most  needed. 
Surely,  he  who  has  not  yet  been  pronounced  guilty,  and  he  who  has 


'■■  ■  S  i 


i  I 


'11 


384 


PRISONS  AND  REFORMATORIEd  OF   THE 


committed  but  a  blight  offense  against  the  laws,  ought  to  bo  sur- 
rounded by  a  greater  moral  protection  than  he  who  is  sunk  to  a 
lower  depth  in  ft-ime,  and  whose  guilt  is  acknowledged.  Persons 
under  arrest  are  often  innocent,  and  are  so  proved  on  their  trial.  Is 
it  right  to  let  them  find  in  the  prison  a  corruption  which  they  did 
not  bring  to  it  ?  But  even  if  they  are  guilt}',  why  place  them 
first  in  a  detention  prison,  which  can  hardly  fail  to  corrupt  them 
still  more?  Is  it  that,  on  their  conviction,  they  may  be  sent  to  a 
state  prison  to  be  reformed?  It  has  been  well  remarked  by  De 
Tocqucville  that  "to  neglect  the  less  vicious,  in  order  to  labor  only 
for  the  reform  of  great  and  hardened  criminals,  is  the  same  as  if 
only  the  most  infirm  Avcre  attended  to  in  a  hospital;  and,  in  order 
to  take  care  of  patients,  perhaps  incurable,  those  Avho  might  l)e 
easily  restored  to  health  were  left  M'ithout  any  attention."  Surely, 
there  must  be  a  screw  loose,  there  must  be  something  out  of  joint, 
there  must,  in  short,  be  a  radical  deficiency,  in  a  prison  system 
which  offers  anomalies  and  self  contradictions  like  these. 

2.  County  jails  should  be  made  simply  houses  of  detention  for 
persons  under  arrest  and  awaiting  trial.  Their  punitive  character 
should  be  abrogated,  and  a  class  of  prisons  established,  corres- 
ponding to  the  houses  of  correction  in  Massachusetts,  intermediate 
between  the  state  prison  and  tlie  common  jail,  in  which  all  persons 
convicted  of  minor  offenses  should  be  confined,  under  sentence  of 
"hard  labor."  Detention  for  trial  and  punishment  on  conviction 
are  essentially  different  processes,  and  the  "fitness  of  things"  re- 
quires, in  each,  a  special  method,  in  harmony  with  its  nature  and 
adapted  to  the  end  in  view.  The  two  systems  have  points  widely 
variant  and  even  incompatible  with  each  other,  and  cannot  bo  as 
successfully  managed  in  conjunction  as  they  can  separately.  Be- 
sides, oflicers  who  have  the  custody  of  prisoners  awaiting  trial, 
and  who  convey  them  to  and  from  court,  luck  the  requisite  oppor- 
tunity to  enforce  discipline  among  sentenced  prisoners,  of  Avhom 
hard  labor  is  exacted,  as  it  should  be  in  the  case  of  all  who  arc 
undergoing  punishment  on  conviction.  ''•  ' 

3.  Separate  imprisonment  should  be  enforced  in  all  comniou 
jails.  If  jissociation,  as  we  firmly  believe,  is  the  seminal  evil  of 
our  jail  system,  tlicn  its  remedy  must  lie  in  individual  imprison- 
ment. The  Prison  Association  has  held  this  vicAV  from  the  start, 
and  maintained  it  throughout.  It  is  certainly  our  own,  and  we 
arc  happy  to  have  it  fortified  by  the  judgment  of  so  judicious  a  writer 
as  Mr.  F.  Hill,  who  says:  "The  separation  of  prisoners  is  peculiarly 


UNITED  STATES  AND  CANADA. 


335 


proper  immediately  after  arrest,  in  police  prisons,  while  under 
examination  or  waiting  for  trial.  At  such  time,  comparatively 
little  can  be  known  of  the  prisoner's  character,  or  of  the  character 
of  those  with  whom  he  may  be  placed  in  association;  and  at  such 
periods,  therefore,  it  is  generally  desirable  to  enforce  a  strict 
separation,  not  to  speak  of  considerations  arising  from  the  danger 
of  the  defeat  of  justice." 

4.  Provision  should  be  made  for  imparting  religious  instruction 
to  all,  and  secular  instruction  to  such  as  may  need  it.  Our  views 
on  these  points  have  been  fully  set  forth  in  former  parts  of  this 
paper,  as  they  stand  related  to  state  prisons;  and  the  .arguments 
there  adduced  are  equally  applicable  here.  Possibly  they  will 
apply,  in  the  present  case,  with  added  force,  since  medicines 
may  be  administered  to  the  slightly  sick  with  greater  hope  of 
advantage  than  to  those  in  whom  disease  is  approacliing  the  point 
of  incurable  malignity. 

5.  The  reform  which  would  crown,  and  give  efficiency  to,  all 
the  others  is  a  central  authority  of  some  kind,  having  the  general 
oversight  and  control  of  the  entire  prison  system  of  tne  state. 
The  shocking  anomalies  and  contradictions,  noticed  in  a  preceding 
paragraph,  spring  chie%  out  of  the  want  of  unity  in  the  govern- 
ment and  administrations  of  the  prisons.  The  state  prisons  are 
controlled  and  governed  by  state  authority ;  the  common  jails 
and  the  houses  of  correction,  where  such  exist,  by  whatever  name 
called,  arc  directed  by  the  counties  ;  while  the  city  prison  is 
superintended  and  managed  by  the  city  itself.  These  various 
departments  of  administration  in  the  several  states  being  almost 
as  independent  of  each  other  as  tlie  states  themselves,  it  results 
that  they  hardly  ever  act  either  uniformly  or  simultaneously. 
One  may  originate  a  useful  reform  within  the  sphere  of  its  powers  ; 
but  the  others,  clinging  to  ancient  abuses,  remain  inactive,  and 
make  no  progress.  This  is  a  sore  evil.  While  it  continues,  though 
there  may  be  improvement  in  isolated  localities,  there  can  be  little 
general  advance  in  prison  discipline.  Something  may  lie  cftected 
here  and  tlu*re  by  spasmodic  cfForts,  but  there  can  be  no  combined, 
comprehensive,  syslenuitic  agencies  at  work  throufrhout  the  whole 
field,  ac('oiiii)lisliing  reforms,  commensurate  with  its  tei-ritorial 
limits,  and  ade(|uate  to  the  demands  of  an  enlightened  statesman- 
ship and  :i  progressive  civilization.  May  our  noble  state,  whose 
example  (for  evil,  we  fear,  as  Avell  as  for  good)  is  so  potent  with 
her  sisier  states,  soon  apply  the  appropriate  remedy  in  the  estab- 


i 


I  !iJ 


il„ 


<&  -( 


;  'I 


11 


ill 


I 


f|i: 

I  if!  r' 

j.|l  f 

336 


PRISONS  AND   REFORMATORIES  OF   THE 


lishmeut  of  a  central  authority,  invested  with  the  necessary  powers, 
and  animated  with  the  zeal  and  ardor,  which  alone  can  insure 
broad  and  solid  results.  How  much  can  be  accomplished  by  such 
an  authority,  even  with  restricted  and  inadequate  powers,  has  been 
seen  in  the  exhibition,  embodied  in  the  previous  chapter,  of  the 
remarkable  improvements  in  jail  construction  and  jail  administra- 
tion, achieved  in  Canada,  within  the  last  half  dozen  years,  through 
the  agency  of  the  board  of  inspectors,  so  wisely  created  by  the 
legislature  of  that  province. 


UNITED  STATES  AND  CANADA. 


337 


CHAPTER  III. 


Prisons   intebmediate 


between   the 
State  Prison. 


Common  Jail  and  the 


Prisons  of  the  grade  mentioned  in  the  heading  to  this  chapter, 
receive  different  designations  in  the  different  states — house  of  cor- 
rection, penitentiary,  worlchouse,  bridewell  and  city  prison.  Mas- 
sachusetts is  the  only  state  in  the  Union  which  has  a  general  sys- 
tem of  this  class  of  penal  institutions,  called  there  houses  of 
correction.  Even  in  Massachusetts,  these  prisons  are  not  managed 
l)y  the  state,  but  are  county  institutions.  Each  county  has 
one  of  them.  New  York  has  six  penitentiaries,  all  of  them 
created  by  special  statutes,  and  directed  by  the  counties  in  wiiich 
they  are  severally  situated.  Michigan  has  a  house  of  correction, 
erected  and  governed  by  the  city  of  Detroit.  Illinois  has  a  l^ride- 
wcll  in  the  city  of  Chicago,  managed  by  the  conniion  council  of 
the  same.  Missouri  and  Kentucky  have  each  a  workhouse,  situa- 
ted, the  one  at  St.  Louis,  the  other  at  Lowisville,  and  both  city 
institutions.  Cincinnati,  Ohio,  has  a  city  pri.-jon.  Wisconsin  has 
a  house  of  correction  at  Milwaukie,  which  waua  in  process  oi"  con- 
struction at  the  time  of  our  visit  to  the  state,  aaid  has  since,  we 
presume,  gone  into  operation.  It  has  been  rcpcted  to  us  that 
there  are  two  houses  of  correction  in  Maine;  but  we  did  not  hear  of 
them  at  the  time  of  our  visit  to  that  state,  and  we  .*'. elude  that 
they  are  either  of  little  account,  or  belong  to  the  class  of  establish- 
ments which  exist  only  on  paper.  We  visited  about  one-third  of 
the  houses  of  correction  in  Massachusetts,  and  'ill  the  other  insti- 
tutions named  in  the  foregoing  enumeration,  except  titoec  of  our 
owu  state,  which  we  have  often  inspected  at  other  times.  We  loft 
our  printed  interrogatories  in  the  hands  of  their  superintendents,  Init 
\vc  have  received  only  two  responses — one  from  Mr.  Secretary 
Sanborn,  of  Massachusetts,  and  the  other  from  Mr.  Z.  R.  Brock- 
way,  superintendent  of  the  Detroit  house  of  correction,  Mi(  'ligan. 
As  our  observations  extended  to  Canada,  we  ought,  perhaps,  iu 
this  connection,  to  state  that  there  are  iu  that  province  no  prisons 
t>f  the  kind  under  consideration;  but  the  bojird  of  inspection  {.s 
urging  upon  the  Legislature,  with  much  zeal  uud  force  of  reason- 

[Assem.  No.  35.}  22 


v: 


um 


i^'U 


i;m 


833 


PRISONS   AND   REFDRMATOBIES   OF   THE 


ing,  the  necessity  of  such  institutions,  to  which  they  propose  to 
give  the  name  of  "  central  prisons." 

The  number  of  houses  of  correction  in  Massachusetts  is  nomi- 
nally seventeen,  but  actually  thirteen.  lu  some  cases  they  are 
wholly  distinct  establishments;  more  conmioniy,  they  are  carried  ou 
in  connection  with  the  county  jails.  Each  is  under  a  local  admin- 
istration, there  bein<^  no  conmion  bond  of  union  among  them.  The 
governing  power  is  vested  in  the  county  commissioners  and  the 
sheriff,  except  in  Suffolk,  where  a  body  of  city  officers,  called  the 
*'  board  of  directors,"  manages  the  house  of  correction,  as  it  do«'s 
the  other  penal  and  reformatory  institutions  belonging  to  the  city 
of  Boston,  with  the  exception  of  the  common  jail.  Party  politics 
enters  buL  slightly,  if  at  all,  into  the  adminstration.  The  aggre- 
gate of  salaries  paid  to  the  officers  of  these  institutions  is  $50,000, 
being  an  average  to  each  slightly  under  $4,000.  The  average 
number  of  prisoners  confined  in  them  is  about  1,000.  Almost  tlie 
only  piinishmcnt  is  the  dark  cell;  the  lash  is  never  used.  The 
commutation  law  is  applied  in  the  houses  of  correction,  and  its 
operation  is  found  beneticial.  The  prisoners  work  in  associrxtion 
during  the  day,  and,  with  few  exceptions,  sleep  in  separate  cells 
at  night.  The  law  of  silence  is  imposed  on  prisoners  Avhilo  tit 
work,  but  it  is  rather  nominal  than  otherwise;  in  some  cases  it  is 
scarcely  enforced  at  all.  Chaplains  a  "e  provided  for  some  of  these 
prisons,  but  not  for  all.  None  of  them  give  their  whole  time; 
their  labors  are  conmionly  restricted  to  a  Suiulav  service.  In  a 
few  only  of  these  "houses  are  iSal)bath  schools  l»eW;  in  most, 
thei'o  is  a  full  supply  of  Bibles.  About  thirty-live  per  cent,  of  the 
(prisoners  cannot  read  when  rec«»ved;  and  yet  no  prf>vi»»ion  whjiif. 
evei-  is  made  for  teachin;,  them.  Libiaries  aj-e  provided,  at  the 
eost  of  the  counties,  for  the  greater  part  or  ihiese  prisons.  Tlie 
agu-(vgate  nnrnbei  of  volumes  in  all  is  about  3,0«>0,  the  larp ^t 
being  «i5().  The  dii'taries  are  everywhere  good.  The  meal**  :uo 
twually  iakfiiu  m  tlie  cells.  A  suit  of  clothes  is  fiiniishod  to  e-<*eh 
plisoner  o«  his  4ivscliarge,  if  he  has  not  a  decent  one  of  h>.M  own, 
^■i  money  enough  Lo  pay  his  expenses  home.  Scarcely  anything 
i"  dm^e  to  prevent  rclnifmeii,  by  aiding  lil>erated  prisoners  to  pro- 
«ure  places  where  tli^y  may  eat  honest  bread.  There  are  no  .sta- 
tistics showing  eithei-  what  proportion  of  the  prisoners  had  learned 
a  trade  prior  to  liKir  receptk>n,  or  Avhat  during  their  imprison- 
ment. The  eontrj*»'t  system  (»*'  labor  generally  prevails,  and  works 
badly,  both  for  the  -^fei^scipline  and  the  finaanccs.     The  expenses  are 


UNITED  STATES   AND   CAiADA. 


339 


I 


)enscs  ure 


greatly  in  excess  of  the  revenues.  The  average  length  of  mi- 
tciKos  is  from  three  to  four  months.  The  reformation  of  the  pri- 
soners is  scarcely  considered  at  all.  Is  it  not  a  pregnant  commen- 
tary on  the  foi'egoipg  exhibition  that  from  thirty  to  ninety  per 
cent,  of  the  inmates  are  recommitted  ?  At  least  three-fourths  of 
the  prisoners  are  of  intemperate  habits,  and  just  the  same  propor- 
tion are  foreigners.  The  effect  of  the  war  has  been  to  diminish, 
during  its  continuance,  the  number  of  men  committed,  and  greatly 
to  increase  that  of  women.  The  astounding  and  alarming  fact  is 
stated  by  the  secretary  that,  nhile  in  1854  the  females  constituted 
only  one-fifth  of  the  inmates  of  the  house  of  correction,  in  1864 
they  were  almost  one-half.  Admitting  that  "  this  startling  increase 
in  female  criminality  i«  "^f  wholly  intelligible,"  he  finds  the  solu- 
tion, in  part,  at  least,  in  the  "  distribution  of  state  aid  and  bounty' 
money."  He  remarks:  "  The  possession  of  more  monej'^  than  usual 
niiikcs  the  poor  women  idle,  and,  as  I  have  said,  exposes  them  to 
temptation;  they  drink,  and  from  this  they  are  led  on  to  worse 
ott'euces,  while  the  absent  sons,  husbands  and  fathers  leave  them 
without  restraint  or  protection."  No  doubt  there  is  much  force  in 
tills  view;  but  it  does  not,  in  our  opinion,  jiffiird  a  complete  solu- 
tion. Causes  quite  opposite  in  their  nature  have  been  at  work  to 
produce  the  result  which  we  so  much  deplore.  While  some  have 
sinned  through  the  abundance  of  money,  others  have  been  led  into 
crime  from  the  want  of  it;  for  not  all  the  women  left  at  home  had 
tbolr  i-csources  increased  bj-  the  absence  of  those  on  whom  woman 
naliirally  leans  for  support.  Both  perils  are  alluded  to  in  the 
prayer  of  Agur,  the  son  of  Jakeh,  a  prayer  dictated  by  the  highest 
wisdom:  "  Give  me  neither  povert}^  nor  riches,  lest  I  be  full,  and 
deny  thee,  or  lest  I  be  poor,  and  steal." 

As  we  have  not  hesitated  to  avow  the  conviction  that  the  Massa- 
cluusetts  state  prison  is,  all  things  considered,  the  best  which  it 
has  boon  our  fortune  to  visit,  so  wo  have  as  little  hesitation  in 
cx[)rossing  the  opinion  that,  so  far  as  our  own  knowledge  goes,  the 
Detroit  house  of  correction  holds  a  like  preeminence  among  the 
prisons  of  its  class.  This  establishment  is  under  the  care  and 
direction  of  Mr.  Z.  li.  Brockway,  There  are  few  prison  officers  in 
this  country,  or  prol)ab]y  in  any  other,  Avho  combine,  in  an  equal 
tlegrec,  the  varied  (luallfieatlous  roqislte  for  the  successful  manage- 
ment of  a  penal  institution.  Mr.  Brockway  l)cgan  his  career  under 
tbe  famous  Amos  Pllsbury,  of  the  Albany  penitentiary,  with  whom 
he  served,  so  tp  spouk,  an  apprenticeship  of  several  years.     From 


p: 


;i.S 


v 


ill 

ft!  I 


'4^ 


mil 


340 


PRISONS  AND   REFORMATORIES   OF   THE 


Albany  he  was  called,  such  was  the  distinction  he  had  achieved 
there,  to  bo  the  lirst  superintendent  of  the  Monroe  county  peniten- 
tiary, at  Rochester.  This  position  involved  a  work  of  organization, 
lis  well  as  administration,  in  both  which  he  ji^stified  the  contideiice 
of  those  who  called  him  to  it.  He  continued  at  the  head  of  Ihut 
institution  for  a  period  of  live  or  six  years,  and  would,  no  douht, 
have  remained  there  to  the  present  time,  had  he  not,  at  the  urgent 
invitation  of  the  authorities  of  Detroit,  accepted  the  position 
which  ho  now  holds.  In  organizing  the  new  prison  at  Detroit 
and  in  subsequently  administering  its  government  and  discipline, 
he  displayed  an  ability  no  less  signal  and  achieved  a  success  no 
less  conspicuons,  than  he  had  previously  done  at  Rochester.  A 
^f^ntlemanof  endowments  so  marked  and  an  experience  so  extended, 
while  his  work  would  naturally  claim  attention  and  study,  niiiy 
well  be  permitted  to  declare  it  himself;  and,  certainly,  his  utter- 
.mces  are  entitled  to  a  most  respectful  consideration.  We  theic- 
^ore  give  place,  without  abridgement  or  alteration,  to  a  communi- 
cation of  Mr.  Brockway,  in  which  he  favors  us  with  an  account  of 
','h-)  institution  under  his  care.  The  following  is  the  paper  to 
^vhich  we  refer : 

Detroit  House  of  Correction,      ) 
2dlh  November,  1865.  ) 
Rev.  E.  C.  Wines,  D.  D.  : 

My  Dear  Sir — Ev(>nts  over  which  I  hau  no  control,  have  ren- 
dered it  iinpossibU-  tor  me  to  fultill  my  partial  promise  to  answer 
the  four  hundred  and  thirty  questions  touching  the  prison  sy.slein, 
or  to  write  at  lengtli  upon  the  «ui)Jet't  of  convict  enipl()3'meiii.  I 
should  havf  advise'l  you  of  tills  before,  but  had  not  relinquished 
the  [)ii»'pose  until  to  < lay.  Trusting  to  your  ben<'Volence  to  over- 
look w'M<<  may  reaKonal)iy  seem  to  you  to  be  a  want  of  regard  for 
yoin'Sflf  and  lack  of  interest  in  your  work;  assuring  you  of  my 
deep  int**rest  in  tlie  proposed  reorganization  of  our  prison  sy>t(  in 
and  of  my  profound  resp^M't  f^^r  yourself.  I  will  apjK'ud  smne  facts 
of  interest  ab»>ut  this  i.i-tituiiou,  wliicli.  together  with  the  set  of 
our  aMoiial  rejj^^rts  soni'-  time  since  for  •  arded  to  you,  will  coai- 
prise  th<'  whole  of  my      nimunieation  at  this  time 

The  House  of  Correction  is  managed  by  the  superintendent, 
appointed  for  tiiree  years  by  the  counnon  council  of  the  eiiy,  <>n 
the  noniinatio.i  of  the  mayor  and  board  of  inspectors,  consisting  of 
five  persons,  viz.,  tlie  mayor  of  the  city  of  Detroit,  and  the  eliair- 
man  of  the  Board  of  Inspectors  of  the  State  Prison,  rx-officio,  and 
three  citizens  appointed  in  the  same  way  as  the  superintendent,  one 
being  appointed  annually 


UNITED   STATES   AND   CANADA.  341 

The  buildings  were  erected  in  1861,  at  a  cost  of  $80,000,  exclu- 
sive of  tlic  site,  and  are  arranged  in  the  form  of  a  Latin  Cross,  and 
arc  in  their  general  aspect,  qnito  simihir  to  the  Albany  county 
penitentiary.  In  the  rear  of  tlie  wings  containing  the  cells,  are 
two  yards;  one  for  males  and  the  other  for  females;  the  former 
about  175  feet  square,  containing  workshops;  the  latter,  about  the 
same  size,  contains  the  fuel  building,  and  is  used  chiefly  for  domes- 
tic purposes.  These  yards  are  surrounded  by  a  brick  Avail  sixteen 
foot  liigh,  surmounted  with  sentinel  towers,  and  are  neatly  laid 
out,  graded,  graveled  and  sodded,  and  are  separated  by  a  wing  two 
stories  in  height,  used  for  kitchens,  hospitals,  chapel,  &c.  Imme- 
diately in  front  of  the  building  and  outside  of  the  enclosure,  aie 
ornamental  grounds,  100  by  600  feet,  and  an  additional  space  of 
600  feet  square  is  being  sul)dued,  and  is  soon  to  be  added. 

Tliere  is  also  a  tine  garden  of  about  ten  acres  in  the  rear. 

The  staff'  of  prison  officers  is  composed  of  the  superintendent, 
clevk,  chaplain,  four  overseers,  two  guards  and  four  matrons — all 
appointed  by  the  superintendent,  subject  to  the  approval  of  the 
inspectors,  and  removable  by  him  at  his  pleasure.  ■ 

The  salaries  are  as  follows  : 

The  superintendent $2,500  per  annum  and  p€r((uisites. 

assistant  do      650         do  and  board. 

clerk 400         do  do 

chaplain  (equal  to),        500         do  do 

overseers 300         do      ,  do  , 

g\iards 240         do  do         ,,  . 

matrons 20ato250do  do 

Appointments  are  not  atl'ected  by  party  politics,  except  in  the 
appointment  of  inspectors;  and  the  influence  of  this  does,  in  no 
degree,  alFect  the  administration  of  the  prison. 

In  the  administration  of  the  discipline,  kindness  is  emploj^ed, 
and  is  esteemed  a  very  important  means.  Prompt  attention  to  the 
reasonable  requests  of  prisoners,  considerate  treatment  and  the 
maintaining  of  a  kind,  benevolent  demeanor  in  the  intercourse  of 
oliioojs  and  prisoners,  produces  the  most  gratifying  effect.  Kewards 
are  also  enq)loycd  as  a  stimulus  to  good  conduct,  viz.:  commuta- 
tion of  sentence  three  days  per  month;  the  allowance  of  overwork 
(paid  only  at  the  expiration  of  the  sentence) ;  and,  in  the  female 
prison,  the  division  of  the  i)risoners  into  two  grades. 

The  lowest  grade  are  kept  in  separate  cells  when  not  at  work; 
live  upon  the  coarse  i)ris()n  diet,  witho\it  tea  or  coffee,  and  non- 
intercourse  is  always  enforceti  among  them.  They  are,  however, 
admitted  to  the  privileges  of  tlie  Uhrary,  atlentl  upon  the  daily 
and  weekly  devotions,  and  receive  visits  from  the  chaplain  at  the 
cell  door. 

The  higher  grade  sleep  and  spend  their  liusiness  hours  in  a  room 
togotlier,  are  allowed  to  converse  with  each  other,  under  the 
rrstraint  imposed  by  the  proximity  of  the  matron,  who  can  hear 
the  conversation,  though  she  is  not  present  in  their  room.     They 


<  <'l 


iK''s3 


342 


PRISONS  AND   REFORMATORIES  OF   THE 


'II 
'i 
!l 

il 
ill, 

V 

I 


'1^ 


,   i 


i^ 


are  allowed  sonic  privileges  of  diet,  a  distinction  is  made  in  their 
clothin,'^,  and  they  are  snpplied  Avith  greater  variety  of  reading 
matter.  The  chaplain,  snperintcndcnt,  and  other  friends,  frc- 
quent'y  visit  their  roonj  after  work  honrs,  for  the  purpose  of  rend- 
ing, or  speaking,  or  studying  the  scripture  with  them,  and  usually 
cn.<r<ige  in  family  devotions  before  leaving. 

I  am  unable  to  state  definitely  as  to  results,  the  grade  having 
been  so  recently  established.  I  have  great  confidence,  however, 
that  a  similar  system  may  be  successfully  introduced  into  the  nialo 
prison,  Piul  that  I  shall  be  able  next  year  to  furnish  you  with  in- 
teresting facts  in  relation  to  it  in  both  prisons. 

The  commutation  law  is  most  salutary  in  its  effect  upon  the 
conduct  of  prisoners,  and  in  every  instance,  save  two,  dining  the 
th'.ec  years  of  its  operation,  prisoners  have  gained  the  whole  time 
allowed  by  law. 

The  allowance  of  overwork,  as  before  stated,  is  not  as  a  pecu- 
niary reward  for  good  conduct,  but  as  a  stimulus  to  industry  und 
the  cultivation  of  habits  of  application  that  shall  be  of  service  to 
the  prisoner  on  his  release  from  confinement. 

Religious  services  are  held  in  the  chapel  every  morning,  at 
which  all  the  prisoners  and  oflScers  are  present ;  and,  on  Sunday, 
there  is  a  preaching  service  at  9  o'clock,  a.  m.  The  remainder  of 
the  day  is  spent  by  the  prisoners  in  their  cells,  and  by  the  chap- 
lain in  visiting  them  for  personal  conversation  and  the  distribution 
of  books  and  papers. 

No  Sabbath  school  is  maintained.  It  is  believed  that  the  ser- 
mon in  the  morning,  the  opportunity  for  reading  afforded  by  a 
good  library,  and  the  personal  intercourse  with  the  chaplain,  are 
of  more  value  to  prisoners  sentenced  for  such  short  periods  as 
these  are,  than  would  be  a  Sabbath  school. 

The  subject  of  punislmients  naturally  comes  in  here,  and  I 
regret  that  I  have  not  time  to  write  out  my  views  as  they  stand 
after  an  experience  and  observation  of  many  j-ears.  Many  of  tbe 
puiushmt  nts  used  in  the  prisons  of  our  country  are  barbarous  and 
wol^se  than  useless,  while  some  which  have  been  abrogated  are 
most  valuable,  if  properly  administered. 

1  tloubt  if  the  V  lodom  of  man  can  devise  any  system  of  punish- 
mtiit  that  can  be  universally  applied  with  uniform  results.  Very 
grtaf  power  tuitst  be  vested  in  the  governing  officer  of  a  prison, 
and  wlion  abused,  the  officer  should  he  removed.  There  has  been 
a  tcndcnoy  to  so  legislate  on  this  >.ubioct  that  a  bad  or  incora- 
potfiit  officer  <:ou!<J  not  commit  an  ei or  or  an  outrage,  and  the 
effect  has  been  injurious  to  liie  di^cipiino  of  our  prisons  and  to  the 
prisoners  themselves. 

I  trust,  however,  that  as  Christ's  new  disj^ensatuMi  of  love  sub- 
merL'cil  and  praetically  annulled  the  old  dis|>*Misation  of  law,  so 
the  new  era  of  "rewards,"  in  the  nianagome^it  of  prisoners,  will 
reiuler  the  discussion  of  the  siibjcct  of  puni»hments  compartivoly 
uuiiuportaut. 


UNITED  STATES  AND   CANADA. 


343 


haviiinr 


The  prisoners  in  this  institution  are  employed  nt  the  niunufac- 
ture  of  chairs,  the  wood  work  of  which  is  made  by  the  males, 
and  the  females  are  engaged  in  braiding  the  seats. 

There  are  no  contractors  in  this  prison.  The  superintendent 
purchases  material,  directs  the  labor,  and  sells  the  goods.  The 
prison,  under  this  system,  is  entirely  self-sustaining,  as  will  be 
subsequently  shown,  and  funds  sufficient  to  test  the  value  of 
"rewards"  and  other  modifying  appliances  are  supplied,  Avithout 
an  appeal  to  the  treasury  of  the  state.  I  have  no  doubt  that  so 
soon  as  the  number  of  nudes  in  confinement  reaches  the  maximum 
capacity  of  the  prison,  we  shall  be  able  to  adopt  the  eiffht  hour 
system,  and  still  l)e  "  sclf-sustaining." 

The  institution  was  opened  in  August,  1861.  The  average  num- 
ber of  prisoners  in  continement  up  to  December  31,  1862,  was 
96^3^,  more  than  one-half  of  whom  Avere  females.  The  whole 
expenditure  for  that  period  was  $16,030.85  and  the  income,  $6,- 
794.51,  leaving  a  deficit  of  $9,242.34. 

The  average  number  of  prisoners  in  confinement  for  the  year 
ending  December  31,  1863,  was  126  and  a  fraction,  not  quite  one- 
half  of  whom  were  females.  The  expenditure  for  this  year  was 
$16,231.20,  and  the  income  $13,231.20,  leaving  a  deficit  of  $3,000. 

The  average  number  of  prisoners  in  continement  for  1864,  was 
142  and  a  fraction,  one-third  of  whom  were  females. 

The  expenditure  for  the  year  was  $24,305.08;  and  the  income, 
$26,316.88,  leaving  a  surplus  of  $2,011.80. 

The  year  1865  is  not  yet  closc'^  and  my  statements  are  not 
ready.  I  estimate,  however,  that  the  average  number  of  prison- 
ers will  be  about  175  (one-half  females) ;  that  the  expenditure 
will  be  $25,000,  and  the  earnings  $30  000,  or  in  that  ratio;  and 
that  I  shall  be  able  to  report  a  surplus  of  $5,000. 

The  contract  system  meets  with  very  j^eneral  denunciation  in 
these  days,  and  I  confidently  expect  will  soon  be  superseded 
throughout  the  prisons  of  the  land,  though  much  of  the  evil  attri- 
buted to  it  more  justly  belongs  to  its  nial  administration. 

I  have  refused  all  offers  for  the  emploj'ment  of  the  prisoners 
here,  and  intend  to  test  by  actual  ex])erimeut  the  value  of  the  sys- 
tem now  in  operation. 

I  feel  that  there  are  very  gross  defects  in  the  prison  a3'stem  of 
the  land,  and  that,  as  a  whole,  it  docs  not  accomplish  its  design; 
and  that  the  tmie  has  come  for  reconstruction,  'ihere  are,  doubt- 
loss,  in  operation  in  the  prisons  of  this  country,  religious  and  moral 
agencies,  physical  and  liygienic  regulations,  and  a  system  of  em- 
ployment for  prisoners,  which,  if  combined  in  the  management  of 
one  institution,  would  produce  a  model  prison  indeed.  To  find 
thorn,  combine  them,  and  apply  them,  is  to  my  view  the  great 
dosideratum.  When  this  shall  have  been  accomplicihed,  and  every 
state  is  supplied  with  a  graduated  system  of  graded  prisons,  con. 
trolled  by  an  independent  central  authority;  and  when  the  crimi. 


'\ 


344 


PRI80NB   AND   REFORMATORIES   OF    THE 


] 


iml  cotlo  shiiU  luivo  been  made  to  corrcHponcl  with  tho  new  stale 
of  things,  then,  juul  not  till  then,  nmy  we  rest. 

This  is  an  a«re  of  drmouMrotinn,  nnil  tho  i)racticiil»ih'ty  of  tJio 
proposed  improvements  must  ho  demonstrated  at  every  8t<Mi  to 
insure  their  adoption. 

In  my  quiet  corner  hero,  I  am  at  work  at  this,  and  trust  (hat  hy 
next  year  the  practieal  operation  of  our  system  of  hd)or  ani  nnrlial 
operation  of  prisoners  will  add  at  least  a  mite  to  tho  prugrt'ss  of 
jjrison  reform. 

I  am,  my  dear  sir,  with  very  great  resjjcct. 

Your  o1)edient  servant, 

Z.  K.  imOrKWAY. 

From  this  noble  institution,  worthy  in  many  respects  to  i)c 
regarded  as  a  '  model  prison,"  wo  pass  to  one  most  opposite  in  its 
character,  tho  "bridewell,"  of  the  city  of  Chicago,  Illinois.  AVil!: 
a  single  exception,  soon  to  be  noticed,  this,  wo  think,  is  the  worst 
prison  of  its  class  wc  have  ever  seen.  Several  reporters  of  the 
<.ity  presses  accompanied  us  on  our  visit  to  it.  On  the  following 
morning  the  Chicago  Times  and  Tribune  lind  extended  notices  of 
the  inspection,  from  each  of  which  wc  take  a  brief  extract. 

The  Times  said:  "The  commissioners  paid  a  visit  to  the  bride- 
well, and  the  sights  which  there  met  their  eyes  seemed  to  astonish 
them  a  little.  They  were  not  prepared,  indeed,  to  see  a  model 
institution^but  th'.'y  rortninly  never  expected  to  see  in  a  great  city, 
like  Chicago,  a  ptnal  establishment  which  is  scarcely  tit  for  a  dog 
kennel.  Ilic  Icecpcr  of  the  bridewell,  who  showed  the  party 
through  ihe  i)lacj,  seemed  himself  to  bo  ashamed  of  it,  and,  by 
way  of  apologizing  for  the  wretched  condition  in  Avhich  they  found 
it,  complained  of  the  want  of  means  at  his  disposal  for  rendering 
it  a  fit  habitation  for  human  beings.  In  the  first  ward  are  a  suc- 
cession of  narrow  little  dungeons,  where  a  man  can  barely  stand 
erect,  and  where  he  can  stretch  foi'th  his  hand  and  touch  the  walls 
all  around.  Each  cell  is  provided  with  a  bed,  which  occui)ie.s 
nearly  the  whole  space,  so  that  wl'.en  a  prisoner  is  seated  on  tlie 
bed  his  knees  touch  the  opposite  wall.  The  bed  linen  Avas  not 
over  clean,  because,  as  the  keeper  said,  the  supply  of  bedding  was 
insufficient,  so  that  he  could  not  possloly  change  it.  In  each  of 
these  deplorable  dungeons  two  men  were  conlhied  together.  IIow 
they  manage  to  sleep  at  night  it  is  impossible  to  guess,  for  the  bed 
it.self  is  quite  narrow  for  one  man.  The  wretched  imnates  glowered 
at  the  visitors  as  they  passed,  like  wild  beasts  in  a  cage.  By  far 
the  greater  proportion  of  the  prisoners  in  the  bridewell  at  the  pro- 


UNITED  STATES  AND  CANADA. 


845 


sent  time  oro  women,  iviul  the  iiccommodutlons  boiii";  Insufficient, 
a  lar<:5e  nuinher  of  tliesc  are  obliged  to  be  transferred  to  the  men's 
quarters.  One  tiling  weemed  to  snprise  tlie  conurn'ssionerH,  and 
tliat  wiiji,  tbat  quite  n  number  of  the  cells  were  onlircly  unfurnished. 
The  city  cannot  afford  a  few  wretched  pallets,  and  the  consequence 
is  that,  while  the  bridewell  is  over-crowded,  a  considerable  por- 
i.oix  is  absolutely  lying  empty — hungry  for  tenants.  It  is  no  won- 
der that  the  commissioners  said  that  our  prisons  arc  a  disgrace  to 
the  city." 

The  Tribune  speaks  in  a  similar  strain,  adding  some  facts  not 
contained  in  the  article  of  the  Times.  It  remarks:  "The  build- 
ings are  of  wood,  old,  r(*tten  anil  rickety,  alfc  ''  :  nests  for  innti- 
nierablo  vermin,  Avhich  all  the  oftbrts  of  th<  I'lc  in  charge  can- 
not make  elVectual  fight  against.  They  will  I  v  d  only  when 
the  building  is  burnt  dov/n;  and  it  is  terril  k  of  the  con- 
seqiiiMices  that  would  ensue,  should  that  building  take  fire.  No 
power  on  earth  c(mld  save  it  from  total  destruction.  Its  walls  and 
partitions  arc  of  the  mo.>'t  rotten  kind  of  wood,  into  any  part  of 
which  ono  may  run  a  knife  almost  to  the  hilt,  and  it  would  burn 
like  tinder.  *  *  *  *  The  match  of  the  incendiary  or  thccarc- 
eslsness  of  an  attendant  might,  at  any  moment,  envelope  the  build- 
ing in  flames,  when  nothing  short  <:  f  a  miracle  could  save  those 
confined  there.  The  next  crying  sin  is  the  lack  of  proper  provi- 
sion for  cleanliness  ai.d  seclusion.  The  little  cells,  each  intended 
for  one  person,  and  furnished  with  a  single  cot  of  boards  and  a 
tick  filled  with  straw,  are  made,  in  many  cases,  to  hold  two  per- 
sons, who,  in  this  hot  weather  (August),  are  obliged  to  lie  as 
closely  packed  as  herring  in  a  barrel;  this,  too,  while  several  of 
the  cells  are  unoccupied,  and  for  the  shameful  reason  that  there  is 
not  enough  of  that  bedding  to  supply-  one  tick  to  each  cell.  Of 
course,  this  leaves  no  material  for  changing,  and  many  of  the  ticks 
and  covers  are  in  a  dreadfully  dirty  condition — they  cannot  be 
S[)arcd  for  washing.  The  privies  were  in  a  wretchedly  filthy  con- 
dition, and  as  for^vashing,  the  prisoners  use  one  long  trough,  with- 
out soap.  Another  radical  Avrong  of  the  place  is  the  lack  of  any 
cnii)loyment  for  the  prisoners.  The  men  arc  set  to  stone-breaking 
and  wood-sawing,  but  there  is  not  enough  of  these  kinds  of  labor 
to  keep  them  all  busy.  The  women  arc  much  worse  provided  for 
in  this  respect.  They  had  rag  picking  last  winter,  but  that  ran  out 
long  ago;  and  now  they  have  nothing  to  do,  except  some  little 
domestic  labor.     The  maintenance  of  the  prisoners  is  almost  wholly 


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346 


PRISONS  AND  REFORMATORIES  OF  THE 


a  charge  upon  the  city,  whereas  their  labor  should  be  a  source  of 
profit." 

The  city  workhouse  at  St.  Louis,  Missouri,  though  very  far  from 
being  what  such  an  institution  ought  to  be,  is  yet  many  degrees 
in  advance  of  the  city  bridewell  at  Chicago.  We  spent  part  of  a 
day  in  the  institution,  and  w^ere  courteously  shown  through  its 
several  departments,  by  the  gentlemanly  superintendent,  Mr.  James 
Ludington.  It  was  on  a  Saturday  that  we  paid  our  visit  and  made 
our  inspection  ;  and  wo  had  the  good  fortune  to  find  there  the 
mayor  cf  the  city,  the  Hon.  James  S.  Thomas,  on  an  errand  of 
mercy.  It  appears  that  all  the  sentences  to  this  prison  are  alter- 
native ones,  that  is,  such  an  amount  of  fine  or  so  many  days'  con- 
finement. Every  dollar  of  fine  unpaid  requires  two  days'  impri< 
sonment ;  but  the  maximum  of  imprisonment  is  one  hundred  days. 
Now,  as  the  inmates  of  the  workhouse  cannot  appear  personally 
before  the  mayor,  and  as  few  of  them  have  friends  to  interpose  in 
their  behalf,  the  mayor  is  accustomed  to  spend  one  Saturday  each 
month  at  the  prison,  which  he  devotes  to  hearing  the  statements 
of  such  as  may  be  deserving  of  executive  clemency.  The  result 
is,  thftt  some  of  the  most  worthy  have  their  fines  remitted,  either 
wholly  or  in  part.  Seveml,  after  a  hearing  of  their  case,  were 
released  on  the  day  of  our  visit.  Such  are  required  to  report  once 
a  week  to  the  mayor,  giving  the  name  of  their  employer  and  place 
of  occupation.  In  case  of  a  failure  to  pay  a  portion  of  the  fine 
imposed  from  the  earnings  of  each  week,  they  are  remanded  back 
to  prison  to  serve  out  the  unexpired  part  of  their  sentence  ;  and, 
in  case  of  a  new  arraignment  and  conviction,  the  fresh  penalty  is  ad- 
ded to,  not  substituted  for,  the  old.  Several  were  thus  conditionally 
discharged  on  the  day  of  our  visit ;  and,  while  expressing  the 
most  grateful  sense  of  his  honor's  kindness,  they  made  strong  prom- 
ises of  amendment  and  an  honest  course  of  life  for  the  future. 
Mr.  Thomas  informed  us  that  quite  a  number  were  in  this  way 
reclamined  and  saved. 

We  find  in  our  note  book  sundry  memoranda  made  in  connec- 
tion with  this  inspection  ;  but  soon  after  our  return  east,  we 
received  from  the  author,  the  venerable  Dr.  Elliot,  for  more  than 
thirty  years  pastor  of  a  church  in  St.  Louis,  a  "  Statement  of  the 
Actual  Condition  of  tho  Prisons  in  the  City  and  County  of  !St. 
Louis,  prepared  after  Careful  Inspection,  and  respectfully  addressed 
to  his  Fellow-Citizens."  We  do  not  hesitate  to  substitute  his  ac- 
count for  any  we  might  frame  from  our  own  notes.     He  s«}  s : 


)nuec- 

st,  we 

Ihau 

f  the 

If  8t. 

osscd 

lis  ac- 

suys : 


UNITED   ETATES  AND  CANADA. 


347 


•'This  institution  is  situated  on  CarondeVt  road,  three  miles  below 
the  city,  on  high  and  pleasant  ground,  including  about  ten  acres, 
and  might  be  made  everything  desired.  I  was  there  the  other 
day,  when  a  half  a  dozen  of  the  calaboose  graduates  were  received. 
One  of  them  was  an  old  man  entirely  blind,  nn  habitual  drunkard, 
who  spends  a  great  part  of  his  time  there,  being  out  only  long 
enough  to  commit  some  new  outrage  to  send  him  back  again. 
There  were  three  degraded  women,  who  looked  as  if  they  could 
not  be  made  worse,  and  probably  no  attempt  was  ever  proposed 
to  make  them  better. 

"  Two  of  the  men  were  hand-cuffed,  evidently  hardened  offenders 
who  had  been  there  before,  one  of  them  a  discharged  soldier.  They 
were  required  to  sit  down  on  the  ground  while  shackles  were 
riveted  upon  their  ankles,  with  a  chain  just  long  enough  to  move 
with  a  shambling  walk.  During  this  process  they  were  full  of 
blasphemy  and  curses,  and  one,  a  young  man,  whoso  face  was 
marked  by  the  deep  lines  of  dissipation,  three  score  and  ten  years 
old  in  iniquity,  was  so  insulting  in  his  behavior  that  he  was  pun- 
ished  by  a  severe  blow  on  the  spot.  They  were  then  prepared, 
their  hand-cuffs  having  been  removed,  to  take  their  places  with 
one  of  the  work-house  gangs,  employed  under  the  direction 
armed  guards  in  the  quarry  or  upon  the  streets  in  that  vicinity,  to 
work  out  their  lines  ;  the  publicity  of  their  punishment  lessening 
what  poor  hope  there  might  be  of  their  reformation. 

'•I  went  carefully  through  the  whole  building  and  grounds,  and 
into  many  of  the  cells.  The  buildings  are  unskillfully  arranged, 
and  although  kept  with  considerable  care,  some  of  the  colls,  in 
which  some  of  the  sick  or  insane  were  confined,  were  insufferably 
offensive.  The  cells  are  twelve  by  eighteen  feet  large,  with  tolera- 
ble ventilation,  and  each  of  them  contains  at  night  eight  persons, 
with  little  or  no  regard  to  classification.  There  were  fortj-three 
insane  persons  in  keeping,  a  few  of  them  in  close  confinement,  but 
the  most  of  them  at  comparative  liberty,  several  being  regularly 
employed  in  different  kinds  of  mental  labor.  The  whole  number 
of  prisoners  was  about  one  hundred  and  fifty,  nearly  half  of  whom 
were  women. 

"The  men  were  away  at  their  different  places  of  work,  as  I 
have  said,  but  the  women,  to  the  number  of  forty  or  fifty,  I  found 
employed  in  breaking  stone  for  macadamizing  tlie  streets.  It  was 
a  sad  sight.  Nearly  all  of  them  are  young,  some  only  sixteen  or 
seventeen  years  old.    A  few  retained  some  little  remaining  modesty 


843 


PRISONS  AND   REFORMATORIES  OF   THE 


of  appearance,  but  their  faces  and  manner  generally  showed, 
plainly  enough,  the  absence  of  all  shame.  They  were  working 
lazily,  but  talking  busily,  and  it  was  easj'  to  see  that  whatever 
sparks  of  virtue  might  be  left  were  in  the  way  of  rapid  extinguish- 
ment. 

"Throughout  the  institution  I  saw  no  evidence  of  severe  physi- 
cal hardship  nor  of  habitual  cruelty  of  treatment,  although  the 
law  of  force  was  evidently  that  which  alone  governed  everything. 
It  was  equally  evident  that  no  moral  or  reh'gious  influence  of  any 
kind  is  at  work  there.  The  place  is  unvisited  by  ministers  of  the 
gospel,  catholic  or  protcstant,  except  perhaps  upon  some  urgent 
occasion,  and  no  instruction  of  any  kind,  week  days  or  Sundays 
is  given.  Three-fourths  of  the  inmates,  taking  ten  years  together, 
have  belonged,  as  I  was  informed,  nominally  to  the  Roman  catholic 
communion,  and  formerly  were  often  visited  by  their  priests,  but 
not  at  all  during  the  last  four  or  five  years.  They  must  have 
found  it  a  most  discouraging  field  of  wofk,  but  it  ought  not  to  be 
neglected.  Many  of  the  prisoners  were  on  sentence  for  the  second 
or  third  time,  and  the  oflScer  said  that  some  whom  he  found  there 
ten  years  ago,  are  in  confinement  now,  having  been  discharged 
and  recommitted  perhaps  a  dozen  times.  Financially,  the  insti- 
tution is  nearly  self-supporting  ;  and  taking  the  system  as  it  is,  I 
should  say  it  is  not  unskillfully  managed.  But  it  is  the  system  of 
which  we  complain.  It  is  one  of  continual  demoralization,  to 
make  the  bad  worse  instead  of  better,  to  degrade  instead  of  ele- 
vating, to  ruin  instead  of  saving,  to  increase  the  sum  of  iniquity  by 
which  the  community  is  cursed,  instead  of  lessening  it.  Take  that 
calaboose  and  workhouse  together,  they  train  and  graduate  iu 
wickedness  more  than  any  school  or  church  in  the  city  can  educate 
in  virtue.  You  may  say  that  the  material  is  worthless  at  an'  e, 
and  not  worth  saving,  but  Jesus  Christ  did  not  teach  li.^  8c  .0 
human  being  is  worthless,  and  he  died  to  save  the  vilest  sinner 
from  death.  The  ruin  of  these  outcasts  will  be  required  at  the 
hands  of  Christendom.  "Sick,  and  in  prison  and  \e  visited  me 
not,"  is  a  sentence  which  christian  churches  and  legislators  may 
be  compelled  to  hear  to  their  confusion.  Or,  if  humanity  and 
christian  love  cannot  enforce  wiser  systems  of  punishment,  the 
self  protection  of  society  should  do  so.  It  is  the  most  expensive 
system  and  the  most  ruinous  that  could  be  devised.  I  am  not  so 
tender  hearted  as  to  screen  the  guilty  from  the  punishment  due  to 
their  crimes,   nor  do  I  believe  in  petting  the  criminal  so  as  to 


UNITED  STATES  AND   CANADA. 


34d 


change  his  punishment  into  a  re\yard.  But  I  believe  that  Christi- 
anity and  social  science  equally  require  that  punishment  should  be 
so  conducted  as  to  prevent  the  criminal  from  being  made  worse, 
and  to  give  him  favorable  opportunities  for  reform.  Our 
present  system  is  the  exact  reverse  of  this,  and  the  baneful  result 
is  everywhere  seen." 

Of  all  the  prisons  of  the  class  under  consideration,  the  city 
work  house  at  Louisville,  Kentucky,  is  the  vilest  den  we  have 
ever  seen  used  for  the  abode  of  human  beings.  The  number  of 
inmates  at  the  time  of  our  visit,  was  seventy,  one-third  of  whom 
were  women.  The  only  employment  here  is  crushing  stone  for 
roads;  and  men  and  women  work  together  at  the  business.  Tliere 
is  no  restraint  upon  their  conversation,  which  may  well  be  judged 
the  most  foul  and  corrupting  imaginable;  and  such,  in  2)oint  of 
fact,  we  were  informed,  it  is.  The  same  is  true,  when  the  two 
sexes  are  in  their  several  yards  within  the  prison  enclosure. 
Though  separated  by  a  stone  wall,  they  talk  through  it  with  ease, 
and  without  restriction.  The  cells  are  certainly  not  more  than 
eight  feet  square;  and  yet  five  men  sleep  on  a  platform  raised  a 
little  above  the  rest  of  the  floor,  without  beds  of  any  sort,  and 
with  no  bedding  but  blankets;  shuck  beds  being,  however,  as  we 
were  told,  furnished  in  winter.  All  the  ventilation  these  cells 
have  is  through  a  slit  in  the  wall,  some  two  or  three  feet  long, 
and  about  six  inches  wide.  The  air,  e'cn  in  the  daytime,  with 
the  doors  open  and  no  occupants  inside,  was  the  foulest  we  ever 
breathed.  What  must  it  be  when  five  men  have  been  locked  in 
a  cell  for  twelve  or  fourteen  consecutive  hours,  and  used  it,  more- 
over, for  all  the  calls  of  nature;  for,  be  it  known,  there  is  not  a 
privy  on  the  prison  premises!  Thirty  years  ago,  the  French  com- 
missioners, De  Beaumont  and  De  Tocqueville,  "found  (so  they 
report)  in  the  prison  of  New  Orleans,  men  together  with  hogs, 
in  the  midst  of  all  odors  and  nuisances."  They  add:  "It  cannot 
be  called  a  prison;  it  is  a  horrid  sink,  in  which  they  are  crowded 
together,  and  which  is  fit  only  for  those  dirty  animals  found  here 
together  with  the  prisoners,  who  were  not  slaves,  but  persons 
free  in  the  ordinary'  course  of  life."  We  did  not,  indeed,  find  pigs 
associated  in  the  Louisville  work  house  with  men,  in  the  occupancy 
of  these  cells;  but,  at  all  events,  their  presence  could  scarcely 
have  made  them  worse  than  they  were. 

The  city  prison  at  Cincinnati,  Ohio,  consists  of  two  departments, 
one  for  males  and  the  other  for  females,  accommodated  in  differ- 


aeo 


PRISONS  AND  BEFORMATORIES  OF  THE 


ent  buildings,  which  are  situated  in  parts  of  the  city  quite  distant 
from  each  other.  We  do  not  remember  ever  to  have -seen,  nor 
could  we  easily  conceive  of,  two  branches  of  one  and  the  same 
institution  in  sharper  contrast  the  one  with  the  other. 

The  male  prison  is  an  old  li,very  stable,  which  has  been  con- 
verted into  a  place  for  the  confinement  of  criminals.  It  is  indeed 
a  horrid  establishment — insecure,  unventilated,  filthy,  most  offen- 
sive in  its  smells,  with  no  discipline,  and  without  work  for  its 
inmates,  or  the  first  thought  or  effort  towards  their  reformation. 
There  is  not,  or  at  least  there  was  not  at  the  time  of  our  visit,  a 
single  bed  in  the  prison.  The  prisoners  slept  on  boards,  arranged 
tier  above  tier,  in  rows  of  iron  crates  or  cages,  running  the  entire 
length  of  the  building.  They  had  much  of  the  aspect  of  the  cages 
in  a  menagerie  of  wild  beasts.  In  short,  the  whole  appearance 
and  tone  of  the  establishment  we  found  repulsive  in  the  extreme, 
and  the  impression  left  upon  the  mind  was  deeply  painful.  We 
could  not  look  upon  it  otherwise  than  as  a  discredit  to  the^great 
city  of  which  it  forms  one  of  the  prominent  penal  institutions. 

We  felt  it  as  a  great  relief  when,  after  a  ride  of  a  mile  or  two 
in  a  street  car,  we  found  ourselves  in  the  female  department  of 
the  same  prison.  The  contrast  could  scarcely  be  more  complete 
than  it  is  in  all  respects.  The  institution  is  under  the  superin- 
tendence of  "  Mother  Mary  Stanislaus,  Religious  of  the  Good 
Shepherd,"  assisted  by  sisters  of  the  same  order.  The  prison  is 
an  old  school  house,  quite  unfit  for  the  purposes  to  which  it  is 
now  devoted;  but  it  is  one  of  the  best  regulated  and  best  con- 
ducted institutions  we  met  with  in  all  our  travels.  Every  part 
was  as  clean  as  water,  soap  and  brushes  could  make  it,  and  as 
sweet  as  any  private  house.  The  women  were  tidily  dressed  in 
phiin  calico,  each  with  a  clean  white  apron.  They  wore  a  sub- 
dued and  cheerful  air,  very  different  from  the  glum  and  sullen 
looks  so  often  seen  in  persons  of  their  class  in  other  prisons.  They 
were  busy  at  work  making  garments,  and  seemed  to  ply  the  needle 
with  a  will.  During  the  late  war,  they  did  a  great  deal  of  work, 
at  remunerative  prices,  for  the  government;  but  since  then,  greater 
diflBculty  has  been  experienced  in  procuring  profitable  employ- 
ment. As  an  encouragement  to  industry  and  good  conduct,  the 
prisoners  are  allowed,  for  their  own  use,  from  twenty  to  twenty- 
five  per  cent  of  their  earnings.  Those  who  remain  six  months,  if 
they  have  been  uniformly  industrious  and  obedient,  are  presented 
with  a  neat  calico  dress  and  shaker  bonnet,  and  sometimes,  for 


UNITED  STATES  AND  CANADA. 


361 


extra  good  conduct,  with  a  pair  of  shoes  as  well.  Mother  Stanis* 
laus  informed  us  thut  these  little  rewards  operated  like  a  charm, 
and  were  found  more  effective  in  maintaining  discipline  than  all 
the  harshness  and  severity  that  could  be  employed.  The  number 
of  inmates  at  the  time  of  our  inspection  was  seventy-five,  and 
their  average  continuance  in  the  prison  was  stated  to  us  at  about 
four  months. 

This  admirable  prison  owes  its  present  organization  and  man- 
agement  to  Mrs.  Sarah  Peter,  a  widow  lady  of  great  intelligence 
and  philanthropy.  To  our  regret,  Mrs.  Peter  was  absent  from 
Cincinnati  when  we  were  there.  We  subsequently  entered  into 
correspondence  with  her,  in  the  course  of  which  we  received  three 
letters,  which  t;ontain  statements  and  views  of  so  much  interest 
and  value,  that  we  have  deemed  it  proper  to  publish  extended 
extracts  from  them  in  the  appendix.  'These  are  commended  to 
the  reader  as  well  worthy  of  his  attention.  Mrs.  Peter,  being  an 
earnest  Catholic,  is  rather  warm  in  her  praises  of  the  sisterhood 
who  have  charge  of  the  prison;  a  matter  upon  which,  commis- 
sioned as  we  were  simply  to  examine  into  the  condition  and  man- 
agement of  prisons  and  to  report  the  facts  concerning  them,  we 
do  not  feel  called  upon  to  express  any  opinion. 

The  county  penitentiaries  of  our  own  state  are,  without  doubt, 
the  best  penal  institutions  we  have,  owing,  ns  we  conceive,  to  the 
fact  that  their  administration  in  some  of  the  counties  is  entirely, 
and  in  the  others  measurably,  free  from  the  blighting  effect  of 
political  influence.  The  penitentiaries  in  the  counties  of  Albany, 
Monroe  and  Erie  may,  according  to  the  theory  of  prison  discipline 
heretofore  and  now  prevalent  in  this  country,  be  justly  pronounced 
model  institutions,  except  that,  even  under  the  prevalence  of  that 
theory,  greater  prominence  might  be  and  ought  to  be  given  to  the 
departments  of  religion  and  education.  But  the  prisons  named, 
and  others  of  their  class,  have  been,  both  in  their  organia  and 
administrative  relations,  so  often  and  so  fully  set  before  the  legis- 
lature and  the  people  of  this  state,  in  the  reports  of  the  Prison 
Association,  that  we  may  well  forbear  to  encumber  these  pages 
with  what  must  already  be  familiar  to  all  who  take  an  interest  in 
subjects  and  discussions  of  this  nature. 

We  have  thus  completed  the  circle  of  prisons  included  in  the 
designation  placed  at  the  head  of  this  chapter.  The  houses  of 
correction  in  Boston  and  Detroit,  the  female  branch  of  the  city 
prison  of  Cincinnati,  and  the  three  penitentiaries  in  New  York, 


m 


PRISONS  AND  REFORMATORIES  OF  THE 


mentioned  in  the  last  paragraph,  are  iindoubtedly  the  best  organized 
and  the  best  administered  of  their  class  in  the  country.  Beyond 
them,  the  catalogue  is  limited  and  the  results  meagre.  Massachusetts 
leads  here,  as  she  does  in  other  cltwet's  of  penal  and  correctional  insti- 
tuti(ms  ;  but  in  this,  as  well  as  those,  she  is  as  yet  far  from  having 
*'  attained."  The  number  of  these  institutions  in  that  state  is  too 
groat  both  for  economic  and  moral  results.  Her  board  of  state 
charities  is  urging  a  reduction  of  the  number  to  four ;  and  wo 
quite  concur  in  their  views.  New  York  needs  from  ten  to  fifteen; 
or,  possibly,  one  in  each  of  the  eight  judicial  districts  might  be 
sufficient.  On  their  importance  and,  indeed,  necessity  to  complete 
an  adequate  prison  system  for  our  state,  we  will  not  now  enlarge, 
as  wo  have  said  all  we  deem  needful  on  that  subject  in  the  first 
chapter  of  the  present  report ;  and  to  the  treatment  which  the 
topic  there  receives  (pp.  67-71)  we  refer  the  reader  for  what  might 
fitly  be  said  here,  if  it  had  not  been  said  elsewhere  before. 


UNITED   STATES   AMD  CANADA. 


353 


CHAPTER  IV. 

Juvenile  Reformatories. 

The  untlorsigneil,  in  the  progress  of  their  visitation,  gave  much 
attention  to  institutions  devoted  to  the  reformation  cf  juvenile 
delinquents.  We  failed,  indeed,  from  causes  with  which  it  is 
hardly  necessary  to  trouble  the  legislature,  to  see  either  of  the 
reformatories  of  Canada,  the  state  reform  school  of  Michigan,  the 
state  reform  farm  of  Ohio,  and  the  juvenile  farm  school  on  Thomp- 
son's Island,  Massachusetts.  With  these  exceptions,  wo  visited 
and  examined  all  the  correctional  institutions  of  much  note,  in  the 
states  constituting  the  field  of  our  inquiries,  viz :  The  Chicago 
Reform  School,  Illinois  ;  the  State  Reform  School  at  Waukesha, 
Wisconsin  ;  the  St.  Louis  House  of  Refuge,  Missouri ;  the  Louis- 
ville House  of  Refuge,  Kentucky  ;  the  Cincinnati  House  of  Refuge, 
Ohio  ;  the  Western  House  of  Refuge,  Pittsburgh,  and  the  Eastern 
House  of  Refuge  (colored  and  Avhite  departments),  Philadelphia, 
Pennsylvania ;  the  Baltimore  House  of  Refuge,  Maryland ;  State 
Reform  School  at  Meriden,  Connecticut ;  Providence  Reform 
School,  Rhode  Island ;  State  Reform  School,  near  Portland, 
Maine  ;  State  Reform  School,  at  Concord,  New  Hampshire  ;  and 
State  Reform  School  at  Westborough ;  State  Industrial  School  for 
Girls,  at  Lancastfcr  ;  Nautical  Branch  of  State  Reform  School,  on 
board  SchoolShips,  and  Boston  House  of  Reformation,  Deer 
Island,  all  in  Massachusetts. 

From  the  superintendents  of  all  the  correctional  institutions 
visited  by  us  we  received  answers  to  our  printed  interrogatories, 
except  the  State  Reform  School  of  New  Hampshire,  the  Boston 
House  of  Reformation,  the  Pittsburgh  House  of  Refuge,  and  the 
House  of  Refuge  at  Louisville.  From  the  last  named  none  were 
expected,  as  it  had  bedu  in  operation  less  than  two  months.  We 
also  received  replies  from  one  institution  not  visited — the  State 
Reform  School  of  Michigan. 

The  fourteen  papers,  embodying  the  answers  to  our  questions, 
are  published  in  extenso  in  the  appendix.  This  will  obviate  the 
necessity  of  preparing  any  extended  account  of  this  class  of  insti- 
tutions, thus  saving  both  our  own  and  our  readers'  time,  and  pre- 

[Assem.  No.  35.J  23 


354 


PRISONS  AND  REFORMATORIES  OF   THE 


sonting  the  information  coniniunicntcd  in  u  nioro  nutlicntic  and, 
probably,  more  acccptultic  form.  Wo  dcsiro,  however,  to  make, 
and  indeed  feel  it  our  duty  to  make,  this  general  remark  :  That 
there  ii<  nochiss  of  institutions  in  our  country,  connected  with  the 
repression  an<l  prevention  of  erinie,  that  will  bear  a  njoineiif's 
comparison  with  that  which  forms  the  subject  of  the  present 
chapter.  Indeed,  almost  every  one  of  them  might  be  i)ron()unce(l 
a  model  institution  of  its  kind.  Many  of  the  superintendents  are 
not  only  eminently  but  preeminently  qualified  for  their  positions. 
Together  with  their  assistants,  male  and  female,  they  form,  wo 
feel  quite  sure,  as  noblo  a  band  c "  workers  in  the  cause  of 
humanity  as  aye  to  bo  found  in  any  quarter  of  the  globe.  If  we 
might  venture,  among  so  many  excellent  institutions,  to  single  out 
any  that  seem  to  us  to  possess  an  excellence  superior  to  the  others, 
we  could  not  hestitate  to  name  the  reform  schools  of  Massa- 
chusetts; and  of  these  wo  should  feel  as  little  hesitation  in  pro- 
nouncing Jirtst  among  its  x)eers  the  Industrial  School  for  Girls  at 
Lancaster.  At  the  same  time,  truth  compels  us  to  state  that  there 
is  one  ref<»rmatory  in  the  old  Bay  State,  more  open  to  criticism 
than  any  we  met  with  elsewhere  in  tho  whole  course  of  our  visi- 
tation—we refer  to  tho  House  of  Reformation  on  l)i;cr  Island. 
We  append  a  brief  extract  from  our  note  book,  being  a  memo- 
randum made  at  tho  time  of  our  visit:  "  September  28, — Visited 
the  city  institutions  on  Deer  Island,  Hero  wo  found,  under  the 
same  roof,  a  city  almshouse;  a  house  of  industry,  which  is  a  city 
prison  for  persons  convicted  of  minor  offenses,  not  unlike,  in  its 
general  features,  the  county  houses  of  correction;  smd  the  boys' 
department  of  the  house  of  reformation,  which  was  for  a  long 
time  a  general  reformatory  for  juvenile  delinquents,  but  lias  be- 
come, of  late  years,  a  mere  receptacle  for  truaiit  children  from  the 
Boston  schools.  The  girls'  department  is  in  a  separate  building 
near  at  hand.  All  these  different  institutions  arc  under  one  super- 
intendent, who  happened,  unfortunately,  to  be  away  from  the 
island  at  the  time  of  our  visit.  The  whole  establishment  is  clean 
and  orderly,  but  in  other  respects  is  much  inferior  to  tho  reform 
schools  at  Westborough  and  Lancaster.  It  has,  to  our  minds,  a 
number  of  olyectionable  features.  1.  The  mixing  up,  in  one  con- 
cern, of  criminals,  paupers  and  truant  children,  is  more  than  an 
incongruity;  it  is  a  monstrosity.  2.  Meals  are  served  to  the  pri- 
soners in  tho  kitchen,  Avhere  all  the  food  is  prepared;  and  males 
and  females  eat  at  the  same  time,  simply  occupying  different  sides 


VNITBD  STATES  AND   GANADi 


865 


nt  tho  npartmont,  and  sitting  with  their  backs  to  each  other. 
3.  The  male  criminals  and  tho  boys  of  the  reformatory,  work  on 
the  same  farm  (180  acres);  not  indeed,  wo  were  told,  in  company, 
but  they  must,  necessarily,  often  moot  each  other  and  hold  moro» 
or  less  intercourse,  which  can  hardly  fail  to  bo  corrupting  to  tho 
boys." 

Massachusetts  boasts  one  institution  for  youthful  ofTunders  quite 
unique  in  its  character — tho  Nautical  Branch  of  the  State  Reform 
School.  Tho  inmates  of  this  institution,  to  tho  number  of  IGO, 
were  accommodated,  when  wo  visited  it,  in  the  ship  Massachusetts, 
of  650  tons  burthen,  then  lying  in  Boston  harbor.  Another  ship, 
considerably  larger  and  capable  of  receiving  200  pupils  with  their 
officers,  was  then  fitting  up,  and  nearly  ready  for  occupancy. 
It  has  been  now,  for  a  year  or  more,  fulfilling  the  noble  purpose 
to  which  it  is  destined  so  long  as  it  shall  bo  fit  for  use  at  all. 
These  two  ships,  it  will  be  seen,  are  capable  of  affording  accom- 
modations for  360  juvenile  delinquents,  who  may  have  been  com- 
mitted to  them  by  the  proper  authorities.  One  of  them  is  sta- 
tioned in  Boston  harbor,  and  the  other  in  the  harbor  of  New  Bed- 
ford; but  both  spend  a  good  part  of  tho  summer  in  cruising  about 
tho  waters  of  Massachusetts,  and  visiting  its  various  seaport  towns. 

Tho  limit  of  ago  at  which  boys  are  excluded  from  the  reform 
school  at  Westborough  is  14;  but  they  can  be  received  into  the 
school-ships  up  to  the  ago  of  18.  The  superintendent  of  the 
Massachusetts,  when  wo  visited  her,  was  Capt.  Richard  Matthews, 
and  the  teacher,  Mr.  Martin  L.  Eldridge.  Both  of  these  gentle- 
men seemed  to  us  eminently  adapted  to  their  work,  and  they  were 
zealously  devoted  to  it,  oven  to  enthusiasm.  The  boys  were 
divided  into  equal  sections.  The  meml)ers  of  each  section  were  in 
school  every  other  day.  For  our  gratification,  Mr.  Eldridge  put 
them  through  various  exercises,  the  subjects  of  examination  being 
arithmetic,  geography,  history,  and  especially  navigation,  on  Avhich 
latter  branch  the  instruction  seemed  to  have  been  particularly 
thorough.  All  tho  questions  put  were  answered  with  the  utmost 
alacrity,  and  with  a  promptness  and  accuracy  which  were  sur- 
prising. They  also  sang  a  number  of  sailors'  songs  with  a  spirit 
and  fervor,  Avhich  showed  that  their  soul  was  in  the  exercise.  Tho 
section  not  engaged  in  lesson  learning  were  on  duty  in  cleansing  the 
ship,  cooking  the  meals,  setting  and  clearing  the  tables,  and  other 
domestic  employments;  in  repairing  sails  and  rigging;  in  going 
through  every  variety  of  nautical  evolution;  in  gaining  a  know- 


,tl1 


866 


PRISONB  AMD  RBF0RMAT0RIB8  Of  THE 


Icdgo  of  sheet  and  halyard,  brace  and  clewline,  and  the  technical 
Itingungo  of  sailors;  in  short,  in  becoming  practical  seunien.  A 
ready  comprehension  and  rapid  execution  of  orders,  the  dextrous 
.handling  of  rope  and  our,  and  the  ability  to  climb  the  rigging  with 
case  and  rapidity,  are  thus  acquired.  The  summer  cruises  are 
anticipated  with  eagerness,  and  enjoyed  with  a  keen  relish  by  the 
boys;  and  they  serve  at  once  to  develop  and  to  test  their  seuniun- 
ship. 

To  the  education  of  the  mind  and  body,  as  declared  above,  is 
added  u  careful  culture  of  the  heart,  the  sedulous  inculcation  of 
moral  and  'religious  truth. 

And  what  is  the  result  of  all  this  benevolent  labor,  which, 
receiving  from  the  criminal  courts  these  neglected,  vicious  and 
degraded  boys,  extends  to  them  the  hand  of  christian  synn)athy, 
shields  them  for  aseason  from  the  rough  blasts  of  temptation,  teaches 
them  their  duty  to  God  and  man,  imparts  to  them  the  principles 
of  a  noble  science,  trains  them  to  skill  in  the  application  of 
those  principles,  and  finally,  opening  to  them  a  path  of  honorable 
Ui^cfulness,  bids  them  go  forth  and  walk  therein,  to  the  honor 
of  their  God  and  the  benefit  of  their  fellow-men?  We  answer, 
unhesitatingly,  that  the  result  is  most  cheering.  The  very  qualities 
of  sagacity  and  daring,  of  earnestness  and  enthusiasm,  which,  under 
their  former  evil  training,  were  rendering  them  a  terror  as  well 
as  a  pest  to  the  community,  have,  in  numerous  instances,  by  the 
radical  change  wrought  in  their  principles  and  habits  through  the 
wise  and  kindly  eflbrts  of  their  teachers,  constituted  a  vigorous 
impulse  to  push  them  forward  and  to  give  them  success  in  their 
new  career  of  virtue,  honor  and  usefulness. 

We  cannot  better  give  an  idea,  first,  of  the  vicious  character  of 
the  boys  received  and  the  consequent  criminal  and  pestilent  lives 
they  threatened  to  lead,  and  secondly,  of  the  benefits  resulting 
from  the  institution  to  themselves  and  to  the  community,  than  by 
offering  a  few  brief  extracts  from  late  reports  of  the  superintendent 
and  teacher  of  the  ship  Massachusetts.  ^ 

One  hundred  and  seventj'^-two  boys  were  sentenced  to  the  ship 
in  1865.  As  showing  the  character  of  these  youths,  Capt.  Matthews 
reports  that  ot  this  number  there  were  committed  for  assault  and 
battery,  two;  assault  with  intent  to  rob,  two;  breaking  and  enter- 
ing to  steal,  32;  idle  and  disorderly,  one;  incendiary,  two;  lar- 
ceny, 70;  malicious  mischief,  two;  stubbornness,  44;  vagrancy, 
two;  returned  from  probation,  seven;  transferred  from  state  reform 


VKITID  3TATB8  AND  OANADA 


367 


school,  eight.  It  18  a  sad  view  of  the  cu80  of  these  hoya  thnt 
nearly  two-thiriia  oi  them  had  lost  one  or  both  of  their 
parents.  Fifty-tive  had  been  arrested  once  previously;  twenty- 
four,  twice;  eight,  three  times;  two,  four  times;  and  two,  five  or 
six  times.  Thirty-one  were  habitual  drinkers  of  ardent  spirits, 
and  ninety-five  were  in  the  constant  use  of  tobacco.  Their  ages 
were  as  follows:  Seven  were  12  years  old;  seven,  13;  thirty-eight, 
14;  fifty-three,  15;  twenty-seven,  IC;  and  forty,  17 — the  avcrogo 
of  their  ages  being  about  15  years.  Of  the  172  received,  two  did 
not  know  the  alphabet;  seven  could  not  read  at  all;  34  could  read 
a  little  in  the  first  reader;  75  could  read  in  the  second  reader;  40 
could  read  in  the  third  reader,  and  only  16  in  the  fourth;  23  could 
not  write;  41  had  not  studied  orithmetic;  66  had  studied  mental 
arithmetic,  and  66  had  studied  written  arithmetic  more  or  less. 
The  average  length  of  time  during  which  the  boys  had  not  attended 
school  prior  to  their  commitment,  exceeded  twenty  months.  Of 
course,  they  had  forgotten  much  which  they  had  previously  learned. 

Captain  Matthews  makes  the  following  interesting  statements  in 
his  report: 

•'  We  have  spent  as  much  time  in  cruising  during  the  past  year 
as  formerly,  having  visited  all  the  principal  ports  in  the  state. 
The  boys  have  been  active  and  handy,  and  have  made  a  good 
degree  of  advancement  in  seamanship. 

•'  The  health  of  the  boys  has  been  very  good  indeed,  and  it 
gives  mo  great  pleasure  to  state  that  inflammation  of  the  eyes, 
which  has  troubled  us  considerably,  as  it  has  almost  all  public 
institutions,  has  very  much  decreased. 

"No  death  has  occurred  among  our  number  during  the  year. 

"  The  graduates  from  this  institution,  so  far  as  heard  from, 
have  generally  done  well ;  some,  as  might  be  expected,  havu 
lapsed  into  the  pursuit  of  evil  courses,  but  a  great  mojority  are 
doing  well,  and  giving  evidence  of  thorough  reform.  The 
fidelity  and  devotion  of  those  Avho  have  served  their  country 
during  the  war,  in  the  navy  and  army,  is  very  gratifying,  and 
will  ever  be  a  source  of  just  pride  in  the  institution  which  in 
part,  at  least,  prepared  their  hearts  to  love  and  hands  to  defend 
the  land  of  their  birth. 

"  Many  interesting  letters  have  been  received  from  boys  who 
have  been  in  the  navy  and  army,  giving  very  clear  and  truthful 
accounts  of  engagements  by  sea  and  laud. 

"Two  boys  have  served  three  years  in  the  navy,  and  then 


358 


PRISONS  AND  REFOBMATOF.IES  OF   THE 


enlisted  two  years  in  the  army.  One  writes  :  •  Say  to  the  captain 
that  the  boys,  in  the  future,  will  thank  him  for  al.l  he  is  doing  for 
them  now.'  The  other  boy  says  :  *  If  the  boys  are  obedient  and 
follow  the  advice  given  them  by  the  officers  of  tue  ship,  they  will 
come  out  all  right.'  Scarcely  a  day  passes  now  in  which  the  ship 
is  not  visited  by  some  of  the  former  pupils  of  the  school,  returning 
fi'om  voyages  at  sea,  giving  good  evidence  that  they  are  leading 
honorable  and  useful  lives.  Another  boy  writes :  '  Give  the 
officers  and  trustees  of  the  school-ship  my  thanks,  for  all  they 
have  done  for  me.' 

"The  close  of  the  war,  and  the  consequent  discharge  of  so  many 
seamen  from  the  navy,  has  so  increased  the  number  of  men  seek- 
ing voyages,  and  so  reduced  the  rates  of  wages  as  to  make  the 
demand  for  boys  much  less  than  during  the  three  years  previous. 
You  will  observe  by  reference  to  Table  1,  that  fewer  boys  have 
been  sent  on  voyages  at  sea  this  past  year,  than  for  two  or  three 
years  before. 

"  This,  however,  I  do  not  consider  a  misfortune,  by  any  means, 
as  the  length  of  time  which  the  boys  have  heretofore  spent  in  the 
institution  has  been  too  short  for  thoroughness  either  in  reform  or 
instruction. 

"  With  the  increased  facilities  for  the  accommodation  of  boys, 
we  shall  not  only  be  able  to  give  instruction  upon  a  broader  sys- 
tem, but  by  having  a  greater  range  of  selection,  shall  be  prepared 
to  give  better  satisfaction  than  ever  before,  by  offering  only  boys 
whose  characters  and  capabilities  have  been  tested  by  a  long  resi- 
dence in  the  school. 

"Religious  exercises  have  been  regularly  attended  on  the  Sab- 
bath, when  the  boys  have  been  addressed  by  gentlemen  repre- 
senting the  different  religious  denominations  and  the  various 
callings  in  life.  By  this  means  the  interest  of  the  boys  has  been 
kept  up,  an  J  doubtless  many  good  resolutions  have  been  formed 
and  kept."  ,, 

Mr.  Eldridge  makes  statements  of  no  less  interest,  as  follows  : 

"  The  conduct  of  the  boys  in  school  has  been  very  good,  and 
they  have  shown  as  ready  and  prompt  obedience,  and  as  much 
application  to  study,  as  we  could  reasonably  expect  from  their 
antecedents.  The  school  has  been  as  easily  managed  as  in  any 
year  since  it  was  organized,  and  the  progress  made  in  the  several 
branches  pursued  as  great  as  heretofore,  while  in  some,  especially 
in  navigation,  the  advancement  is  certainly  more  marked  than  ia 
any  former  year. 


UNITED   STATES    AND    CANADA. 


359 


«'  This  is  very  gratifying  ;  for  any  one  at  all  acquainted  with  our 
maratime  population  can  point  to  many  men  of  enterprise  and 
correct  habits,  who  have  been  checked  in  their  aspirations  for 
positions  of  command  and  trust,  because  their  limited  education 
did  not  embrace  a  knowledge  of  the  theory  of  navigation. 

"Penmanship  receives  special  attention,  since  the  acquisition  of 
a  good  hand-writing  is  considered  one  of  the  best  qualifications 
for  a  young  man  seeking  employment,  opening  as  it  does  to  him 
many  avenues  of  useful  occupation,  which  otherwise  were  closed. 

"It  gives  me  pleasure  to  acknowledge  the  valuable  service 
rendered  by  the  assistant  teacher,  Patrick  Murphy,  who  was  pro- 
moted from  the  ranks  during  the  year.  Allow  me  to  suggest 
whether  a  system  of  promotions  to  minor  positions  might  not  be 
adopted,  and  conducted  in  such  a  manner  aa  to  cultivate  the  self- 
respect  of  the  boys  and  excite  among  them  a  worthy  emulation. 

"I  cannot  close  my  report  v^ithout  some  allusion  to  those  who 
were  so  recently  my  pupils,  but  who  now  sleep  in  southern  graves 
or  beneath  the  waves  of  the  ocean.  Eight  are  known  to  have 
fallen,  by  land  or  sea,  in  their  country's  defence.  In  the  sudden 
shock  of  battle,  or  after  days  of  suffering  from  wounds  or  disease, 
they  have  gone  to  their  long  rest  in  unknown  graves,  or  '  in  the 
bosom  of  the  deep  sea  buried.'  How  great  was  the  sacrifice  they 
made  for  so  good  a  cause.  With  them  the  morning  of  life  was 
clouded  by  misfortune  and  chilled  by  neglect ;  and  just  as  the 
beams  of  hope  gave  to  life  a  meaning  and  a  joy — in  the  opening 
years  of  manhood,  they  bade  adieu  to  all  the  brightness  of  the 
future,  and,  faithful  to  duty,  went  down  into  '  the  valley  and 
shadow  of  death.'  They  were  obscure  and  humble,  but  a  nation's 
grateful  remembrance  shall  be  their  monument.  They  were  poor, 
but  they  have  left  a  rich  and  imperishable  legacy  in  their  heroic 
example  of  devotion  to  country  and  to  duty." 

The  sentences  to  the  school  ships  are  for  no  definite  periods,  but 
during  minority.  The  trustees  have  the  legal  right  to  pardon  in 
all  cases  where  they  see  fit;  and  they  have  likewise  the  power  to 
send  a  boy  on  a  voyage  to  sea,  which  has  the  effect  of  a  full  dis- 
charge. Tiiey  may  also  discharge  boys  on  probation,  and  often 
do  so.  A  discharge  on  probation  allows  a  boy  to  go  home  or 
elsewhere  on  shore;  but  leaves  him  liable  to  re-arrest  and  re-com- 
mittal, without  a  new  crime,  if  his  conduct  is  otherwise  such  as  to 
render  his  return  expedient.  Probation  is  thus  a  conditional  par- 
don, similar  to  that  granted  for  good  behavior,  on  ticket-of-leave, 


I 


360 


PRISONS  AND  REFORMATORIES   OF  THE 


iu  English  and  Irish  prisons,  and  is  revocable,  at  pleasure,  for 
adequate  cause. 

The  experiment  of  school-ships  has  been  an  eminent  success  in 
Massachusetts,  in  respect  both  of  its  primary  purpose  of  reforming 
juvenile  olFenders,  and  of  its  secondary  purpose  of  rearing  a  more 
intelligent  and  better  class  of  seamen.  Numbers  of  the  graduates 
(at  one  time  no  less  than  105)  have  served  in  the  navy,  some  of 
them  with  distinction.  The  school-ships  have  become  highly 
popular  with  shipmjisters  and  owners,  especially  of  the  better 
class.  One  ship  has  taken  six  boys  on  each  of  Jive  successive  voy- 
ages to  India.  . 

Since  the  addition  of  the  second  ship  to  this  service,  Mr.  Eld- 
ridge,  Avho  has  undoubtedly  been  the  most  efficient  promoter  of 
the  success  of  this  nautical  institution  for  the  reform  of  youthful 
transgressors,  has  been  fitly  promoted  to  the  mastership  of  the 
original  vesse',  the  Massachusetts. 

We  have  been  thus  full  in  our  account  of  the  Avorking  of  reform 
school-ships,  because  we  regard  it  as  of  the  highest  importance 
that  a  similar  reformatory  agency  should  be  instituted  in  New 
York;  and  to  that  end  we  are  anxious  to  enlighten  the  public  mind 
as  to  its  importance  and  utility,  and  to  awaken  an  interest  in  the 
subject  in  the  legislature  and  people  of  the  state,  and  particularly 
in  the  breast  of  gentlemen  engaged  in  commercial  pursuits. 

There  is  reason  to  think — and  it  is  certainly  a  painful  subject  of 
reflection  to  an  American — that  English  ships  arc  navigated  with 
greater  skill  and  freedom  from  disaster  than  our  own.  Such  at 
least  is  the  opinion  of  the  conductors  of  the  New  York  Siiipping 
and  Commercial  List,  who  must,  we  suppose,  be  regarded  as  an 
authority  upon  the  subject.  In  an  article  published  in  their  paper 
last  autumn,  they  remark:  '-The  British  Board  of  Trade  Returns 
for  18G5,  recently  published,  afford  many  interesting  details,  with 
regard  to  marine  disasters  in  British  waters.  It  appears  that  the 
number  of  vessels  which  last  year  entered  inward  and  cleared  out- 
ward at  the  difterent  ports  of  the  United  Kingdom  (not  counting 
vessels  employed  solely  as  passenger  ships)  was  409,255;  they  re- 
presented 65,231,034  tons,  and  the  value  of  their  cargoes  has  been 
estimated  at  five  hundred  millions  sterling.  Of  this  vast  traffic,  it 
appears  that  disasters  occurred  on  the  coasts  of  Great  Britain  to 
less  than  one  per  centum  of  the  number  of  vessels  employed  in  it; 
and  the  losses  of  the  year  1865,  too,  are  reported  to  have  been 
considerably  above  the  annual  average  for  the  previous  ten  years. 


UNITED  STATES  AND  CANADA. 


361 


It  would  appear,  from  a  perusal  of  the  details,  that  the  disasters, 
especially  to  steamers,  might,  in  a  large  majority  of  instances, 
have  been  averted  by  the  exercJu  proper  precaution.  But,  the 
fact  that  less  than  one  per  centum  «  iJritish  commerce  is  destroyed, 
and  that  only  about  five  per  centum  of  the  damage  occurs  to  ves- 
sels of  more  than  600  tons  capacity,  in  the  intricate  and  hazardous 
navigation  of  British  waters,  is  proof  conclusive,  we.  think,  that 
British  vessels,  as  a  tmle,  are  better  equipped,  and  navir/ated  with 
more  skill  than  American  vessels  are." 

The  above  list  of  disasters  to  English  vessels  looks  light  indeed, 
when  placed  beside  the  terrible  register  of  calamities  to  American 
shipping;  and  the  comparison  proves,  conclusively,  the  necessity 
of  establishing  some  sj'stem  which  will  furnish  to  our  mercantile 
marine  a  better  class  of  sailors. 

On  this  subject,  Lieutenant  Commander  S.  B.  Luce,  command- 
ant of  midshipmen  at  Annapolis,  an  officer  of  high  scientific  and 
general  culture,  thus  expresses  himself  in  the  Army  and  Navy 
Journal: 

"It  is  risking  little  to  assert  that  the  frequency  of  marine  dis- 
asters on  our  coast  is  due,  in  no  little  measure,  to  a  want  of  sea- 
manship in  somebody. 

"No  special  charge  is  brought  against  masters  or  owners,  those 
who  rig  and  equip,  or  those  who  command  our  steamers;  but  the 
broad  assertion  is  made  that  many  of  the  fearful  disasters  to  our 
ocean  steamers  are  owing,  in  a  large  measure,  to  the  want  of 
knowledge  of  seamanship. 

"  Seamanship  is  an  element  as  essential  to  the  making  of  a  first- 
rate  commander  of  an  ocean  steamer,  as  it  is  to  that  of  a  com- 
mander of  one  of  the  famous  '  Bhick  Ball  Line.' 

"  Of  late  years  steam  has  so  largely  taken  the  place  of  sails, 
that  popular  error  ignores  sailors,  forgetting  that  whenever  the 
field  of  operation  lies  on  the  sea,  seamanship  cannot  be  dispensed 
with  with  impunity.  It  is  not  our  purpose  to  enter  into  a  disser- 
tation on  the  management  of  steamers  in  bad  weather,  or  to  expose 
the  miseral  ie  apologies  for  spars  and  sails  our  steamers  carry,  and 
their  consequent  inability  to  '  lie  to,'  or  to  show  how  ships  might 
have  been  saved  by  a  resort  to  the  well  known  expedients  of 
drags,  sea  anchors,  &c.,  but  we  will  pass  on  at  once  to  note  the 
somewhat  singular  fact  that  our  far-seeing,  shrewd  and  practical 
insurance  men  have  never  seriously  undertaken  to  remedy  this 
evil  of  ignorance. 


1^ 


J'ti 


!'l 


S62 


PRISONS  AND  REFORMATORIES  OF   THE 


"  The  sure  and  only  way  of  doing  this  is,  of  course,  to  begin  at 
the  beginning,  and  educate  our  young  people  for  this  speciiil  busi- 
ness of  commanding  steamers,  just  as  boys  are  educated  to  bo 
pilots,  or  anything  else  where  proticiency  is  required  in  a  certain 
branch.  , 

"New  York  would  do  well  to  follow  the  example  of  Massachu- 
setts. Why  should  not  her  correctional  institutions  have  a  nauti- 
cal branch,  to  which  might  be  sent  those  committed  for  stub- 
borness,  idleness,  vagrancy  and  petty  larceny,  having  duo  regard, 
of  course,  to  their  individual  titness  for  a  nautical  life  ?  It  is  offi- 
cially stated  that  in  1863,  one  hundred  and  thirty-eiglit  of  the 
elder  boys  in  the  House  of  Refuge,  on  Randall's  Island  (East 
river),  were  permitted  to  enlist  in  the  army,  and  have  acquitted 
themselves  well.  AVhy  should  they  not  pass  through  a  reforma- 
tory school-ship,  and  thence  into  the  merchant  service,  or,  indeed, 
into  the  navy,  and  acquit  themselves  well?" 

General  £dward  L.  Molineux,  some  time  since,  wrote  and  pub- 
lished a  series  of  articles  of  the  same  purport,  in  the  New  York 
Daily  Times.  In  the  course  of  his  essays,  referring  to  the  paper 
of  Connnander  Luce,  he  pertinently  and  forcibly  remarks: 

'•  This  able  officer  has  struck  the  key-note.  It  is  only  by  bring- 
ing up  an  improved  class  of  seamen  that  we  shall  succeed  in  this 
matter.  Simply  in  a  money  point,  setting  aside  the  benevolent 
and  nobler  view  of  the  case,  a  disaster  to  a  vessel  of  average  value 
and  cargo,  saved  as  it  may  be  by  superior  skill,  would  pay  double- 
fold  the  cost  of  school-ships  for  New  York  for  years;  while,  if  the 
saving  of  human  life  is  taken  into  the  scale,  the  benefit  would  be 
incalculable. 

"It  is  not  intended  in  this  to  be  unnecessarily  severe  or  unjust, 
in  not  giving  credit  to  the  skill,  the  bravery  and  correct  habits  of 
a  great  many  of  the  officers  and  sailors  of  our  merchant  service; 
but  it  is  only  common  sense  to  assert  that  by  educating  and  reform- 
ing boys  of  our  seaport  towns,  by  giving  them  some  knowledge 
of  seamanship,  habits  of  discipline  and  sobriety,  it  will  tend  to 
give  our  ships  a  better  class  of  officers  and  crew,  and,  in  conse- 
quence, we  shall  have  fewer  disasters  from  mismanagement,  care- 
lessness and  ignorance." 

We  quite  agree  with  these  two  intelligent  representatives  of  the 
army  and  navy  of  the  United  States,  in  the  views  thus  expressed. 
We  think  that  New  York  should  lose  no  time  in  organizing  a 
school-ship,  after  the  example  of  Massachusetts,  and  that,  haviog 


UNITED  STATES  AND  CANADA. 


363 


done  this,  she  should  add  others,  as  occasion  might  require.  There 
would  be  true  economy,  as  well  as  phihinthropy,  in  the  legisla- 
tion which  should  give  cfTect  to  this  idea. 

Wo  have  expressed  the  conviction,  very  sincerely  felt,  that  our 
juvenile  rctonnatorics  are  the  best  managed  and  most  eftective 
institutions  wc  have  for  the  prevention  of  crime.  But  they  are 
far,  very  far,  too  few  in  nnm1)cr,  and  need  to  be  increased  many- 
fold.  They  boar  no  proportion  to  the  same  class  of  institutions 
in  the  varions  countries  of  Europe.  In  the  eighteen  states  visited, 
the  whole  number  will  scarcely  exceed  twenty-tive  to  thirty,  on 
the  most  liberal  allowance  ;  whereas,  in  Europe,  there  are  from 
800  to  1,000,  not  counting  industrial  and  ragged  schools,  of  which 
the  number,  in  some  European  countries  is  very  considerable.  There 
are,  in  Great  Britain,  at  the  present  time,  about  120  reformatories 
proper;  in  Prussia,  225;  in  Bavaria,  122;  in  Wurtemburg,  23; 
in  Saxony,  23  ;  in  Hanover,  11  ;  in  Baden,  21 ;  in  Switzerland, 
61 ;  in  Sweden  and  Norway,  15 ;  and  so  on  of  other  states. 

By  far  the  larger  number  of  European  reformatories  are  estab- 
lished on  the  family  principle,  while  the  great  majority  of  ours 
arc  conducted  on  the  congregate  system.  We  confess  our  decided 
preference  for  the  first  named  of  these  methods,  but  will  not  now 
stay  to  marshal  the  arguments  in  support  of  that  view. 

We  heartily  approve  of  the  principle  of  parental  responsibility 
and  its  legal  enforcement ;  but  enough,  probably,  has  been  said 
on  that  head  in  a  former  part  of  this  report,  pp.  66  and  67. 


'}| 


B64 


PRISONS  AND  REFORMATORIES  OF   THE 


MEMORANDUM  ON   THE   ADMINISTRATION    OF 
CRIMINAL  JUSTICE. 

The  commissioners  regret  that,  notwithstanding  the  most  dili- 
gent efforts  to  that  end,  they  were  unable  to  procure  answers  to 
their  interrogatories  from  more  than  nine  states  of  the  eighteen 
visited.  The  following  are  the  gentlemen  who  responded  :  Hon. 
Com-ad  Baker,  Lieutenant-Governor  of  Indiana,  and  A.  Wilsbach, 
Esq.,  of  the  same  state ;  Walter  Pitkin,  Esq.,  of  Connecticut ; 
Hon.  E.  L.  Van  Winkle,  of  Kentucky,  since  deceased  ;  A.  Sterling, 
Jr.,  Esq.,  of  Maryland ;  Geo.  W.  Searle,  Esq.,  of  Massachusetts ; 
Hovey  K.  Clarke  and  Henry  A.  Morrow,  Esqs.,  of  Michigan ; 
Cortlandt  Parker  and  John  F.  Hegeman,  Esqs.,  of  New  Jersey ; 
Hon.  S.  D.  Bell,  of  New  Hampshire  ;  and  J.  J.  Barclay,  Esq.,  of 
Pennsylvania.  These  gentlemen  are  all  distinguished  members  of 
the  legal  profession  in  their  respective  states,  and  the  greater  part 
of  them  have  occupied  high  official  position  as  judges,  attorneys- 
general,  &c.,  Ac.  Of  their  great  ability  we  need  not  speak,  as 
this  is  made  abundantly  manifest  in  the  papers  severally  furnished 
by  them,  and  which  will  be  found  published  in  the  appendix.  As 
we  have  an  extended  paper  on  the  criminal  administration  of 
Indiana,  from  Lieutenant-Governor  Baker,  and  as  the  replies  of 
Mr.  Wilsbach,  of  the  same  state,  are  mostly  monosyllables,  we 
have  not  thought  it  neceesary  to  give  the  latter,  though  equally 
grateful  to  him  for  his  courtesy,  as  we  are  to  the  other  gentlemen, 
who  have  so  kindly  expended  time  and  thought  on  their  interesting 
and  able  communications. 

All  of  which  is  respectfully  submitted  to  the  Legislature  by 

E.  C.  WINES,  l^ 

THEO.  W.  DWIGHT,  \  Oommissioners. 

Rooms  of  the  Prison  Association  of  New  York, 

No.  38  Bible  House,  New  York,  January/  1st,  1867. 


j^PPEKTDIX. 


I.  REPLIES  OF  EX-GOVERNORS  OF  STATES  TO  INTER- 
ROGATORIES ON  THE  PARDONING  POWER. 

The  following  are  the  answers  of  ex-Governors  of  states  on  the 
exercise  of  the  pardoning  power,  referred  to  in  the  introduction, 
page  19,  chapter  I,  section  13.  All  the  gentlemen  named  have 
replied  categorically  to  the  questions  proposed,  except  Governors 
Hunt  and  Throop  of  New  York,  who  have  furnished  extended 
papers  upon  the  general  subject,  and  Governors  Dutton  and 
Toucey  of  Connecticut,  Packer  of  Pennsylvania,  and  Anthony  and 
Dyer  of  Rhode  Island,  who  have  written  brief  letters  relating 
thereto.  The  essays  of  Governors  Hunt  and  Throop  and  the  let- 
ters of  the  other  gentlemen,  will  be  published  as  prepared  by 
them.  The  communications  of  those  who  have  answered  seriatim, 
will  not  be  printed  continuously;  but  all  the  replies  to  each 
question  will  be  given'  in  immediate  connection  with  the  same, 
each  writer  being  credited  with  his  own  reply. 

Question  i. 

When  you  were   Governor  of  the   State  of ,  and  had  the 

privilege  of  pardon,  did  you  consider  it  a  desirable  attribute  of 
the  executive  power,  or,  on  the  contrary,  a  burden,  and  generally 
a  painful  moral  responsibility?  Do  you  think  this  unlimited 
authority  of  pardoning  necessary  in  our  political  system  ;  or  is  it, 
on  the  contrary,  in  your  opinion,  repugnant  to  our  theory  of  gov- 
ernment, which  discountenances  irresponsible  and  arbitrary  power? 
Has  the  privilege  of  pardon,  as  it  now  exists,  grown  out  of  the 
polity,  peculiarly  our  own,  or  does  it  exist  because  we  found  it 
when  our  own  governments  were  established  ? 

Answers. 

Chief  Justice  Chase,  of  Ohio  :  I  did  not  regard  the  power  to 
reprieve  or  pardon  as  a  privilege,  but  a  constitutional  power  to 
be  exercised  like  any  other  power,  under  the  responsibilities,  moral 
and  political,  which  peculiarly  belonged  to  it.  The  power,  in  all 
systems  of  government,  must  be  somewhere;  and  I  am  not  pre- 
pared to  say  that  its  exercise  would  be  more  wise  or  more  benefi- 
cial in  other  hands,  than  in  those  of  the  state  and  national  execu- 


366 


APPEiNDlX. 


tives.  In  Ohio,  the  law  requires  the  Governor,  at  each  session 
of  the  Legislature,  to  report  the  pardons  granted  hy  him,  and  the 
reasons  of  his  action.  This  requirement  seems  to  mo  wise.  Per- 
haps it  would  bo  well  also  to  require  the  approval  or  consent  of  u 
board  of  council.  The  want  of  such  a  board,  however,  has  not 
been  attended  with  ill  consequences,  so  far  as  I  am  advised,  in  Ohio. 

Hon.  Wm.  W.  Ellsworth,  of  Connecticut :  In  Connecticut,  the 
legislature  has  tlie  exclusive  power  to  pardon  criminals.  I  have 
at  no  time  heard  an  objection  or  intimation  adverse  to  the  wisdom 
aud  safety  of  this  course. 

The  above  is,  I  think,  substantially,  an  answer  to  the  various 
interrogatories  put  to  me,  so  far  as  I  may  be  supposed  to  possess 
official  or  peculiar  means  of  knowledge  on  the  subject.  Having, 
however,  been  honored,  for  many  years,  with  a  seat  on  the  bench, 
I  will  further  state,  in  reply  to  the  fourth  inlerrogatojy,  that,  as 
it  is  the  jury  which  convicts  of  crime,  the  propriety  of  a  pardon  in 
a  particular  case,  may,  and  do  what  we  please,  will  have  a  bear- 
ing on  the  question  of  conviction.  What  influence  such  a  recom- 
mendation, coming  from  either  the  jury  or  the  judge,  should  have 
on  the  pardoning  power  is  a  difierent  question,  and  one  depending 
on  the  circumstances  of  the  case. 

Hon.  A.  H.  Holly,  of  Connecticut :  In  this  state,  the  governor 
does  not  possess  the  prerogative  of  pardon,  and  I  do  not  consider 
it  a  desirable  attribute  of  the  executive  piwer. 

Nor  do  I  think  the  authority  to  pardon  by  the  executive  neces- 
sary in  our  political  system.  This  power  should  never  be  contided 
to  any  one  man,  in  my  opinion,  and  if  it  is  practicable,  it  should 
be  made  impossible  to  pardon  in  certain  aggravated  cases  of  crime. 

In  this  state,  the  pardoning  power,  as  you  are  doubtless  aware, 
resides  in  the  Legislature. 

Hon.  Israel  Washburn,  of  Maine :  I  regarded  it  as  an  una- 
voidable or  necessary  attribute,  and  yet  as  a  burden  and  grave 
responsibility. 

I  am  not  certain  that  I  understand  precisely  what  is  meant  by 
•'unlimited  authority  ;"  if  that  the  authority  should  be  lodged  in 
the  chief  executive  alone,  I  should  say  it  was  not  necessary,  but  I 
believe  the  full  power  to  pardon  must  exist  somewhere — the  privi- 
lege, as  it  is  called,  I  suppose  is  in  full  harmony  with  our  polity. 

Hon.  Samuel  Wells,  of  Maine  :  I  do  not  know  as  I  considered 
the  power  of  granting  pardons  a  burden.  I  considered  it  a 
duty  to  examine  the  applications  made  foi'  pardon  as  thoroughly 
as  my  time  wouid  admit.  It  is  the  practice  in  Maine  for  a  '.ora- 
mittee  of  the  council  to  examine  and  report  the  facts  to  the  gov- 
ernor and  council  for  their  action.  The  power  of  granting  par- 
dons ought  to  be  lodged  in  some  branch  of  the  government,  and  I 


APPENDIX. 


867 


do  not  think  it  would  ba  wise  to  limit  it  to  any  particular  class  of 
offences.  Tlie  higher  the  grade  of  tlie  crime,  the  more  reluctant 
would  any  reasonable  executive  bo  to  pardon.  I  do  not  thiiilc  an 
unlimited  authority  is,  by  any  means,  absolutely  necessary,  but  I 
do  think  that  good  policy  and  the  power  of  exercising  clemency 
in  proper  cases  require  it.  It  does  not  appear  to  mo  to  be  an 
irresponsible  or  arbitrary  power,  any  more  than  what  exists  in 
numerous  other  cases,  where  the  action  of  the  cxecjitive  is  final. 

I  presume  we  followed  the  English  practice  and  laws  in  estab- 
lishing it.  But  the  power  of  pardoning  seems  to  bo  incident  to 
all  well  regulated  governments. 

Hon.  W.  L.  Greenly,  of  Michigan  :  When  I  was  governor  of 
the  state  of  Michigan,  the  prerogative  of  pardon  was  vested  in  the 
executive  fully,  without  any  restriction  and  without  any  provision 
of  law  compelling  him  to  give  any  reasons  for  his  action.  I  had 
very  manj'  applications  for  the  exercise  of  the  pardoning  power, 
and  in  nine  cases  out  of  ten  without  any  previous  knowledge  of  the 
character  or  habits  of  the  convict ;  and  I  always  regarded  it  as  a 
very  undesirable  attribute  of  the  executive  power  and  a  burden, 
and  in  every  instance  calling  for  the  exercise  of  a  painful  and 
responsible  moral  duty.  I  think  this  unlimited  authority  of  par- 
doning not  only  unnecessary  in  our  political  system,  but  repug- 
nant to  our  theory  of  government,  and  oftentimes  subversive  of 
the  true  ends  of  justice.  This  privilege  of  pardon  undoubtedly 
grew  out  of  the  polity  of  old  monarchical  governments. 

Hon.  John  A.  King,  of  New  York  :  It  is  not  a  desirable,  but 
it  is  a  necessary  and  proper  moral  attribute  of  the  executive 
power — and,  as  that  attribute  is  conferred  by  the  constitution  of 
the  state,  it  is  not  repugnant  to  our  theory  of  government.  The 
power  of  pardon,  as  it  now  exists  in  this  state,  belonged  to  the 
colonial  governors,  and  has,  since,  been  wisely  continued  in  the 
hands  of  the  executive  of  the  state.  It  is  a  power  which  must 
be  lodged  somewhere,  and  can,  in  my  judgment,  be  best  admin- 
istered by  a  single  person. 

Hon.  William  F.  Johnson,  of  Pennsylvania  :  By  the  resigna- 
tion of  governor  Shunk,  the  duties  of  the  executive  office  de- 
volved upon  me,  being,  at  the  time,  "speaker  of  the  senate." 
This  occurred  in  July,  1848.  lu  October,  1848,  I  was  elected 
governor  of  Pennsylvania,  and  served  one  term  of  three  years. 
The  exercise  of  executive  duties  was  vested  in  me  from  July, 
1848,  till  Janjiary,  1852.  The  power  of  pardon,  by  the  state 
constitution,  was  vested  in  the  governor  unrestricted,  and  was 
frequently  exercised  as  we?/  prior  to  as  after  conviction  for  criminal 
offences.  The  proper  exercise  of  this  power  or  prerogative 
demands  great  caution  and  much  investigation  and  labor  with 
firmness  of  mind  and  goodness  of  heart,  and  withal  moral  and 


868 


APPENDIX. 


political  courage  enough  to  do  what  is  right,  regardless  of  con* 
sequences.  I  do  not  consider  the  possession  of  the  power  a 
privilege,  but,  contrariwise,  a  heavy  burden  and  painful  moral, 
religious  und  political  responsibility.  I  believe  that  an  unlimited 
and  unrestricted  authority  to  pardon  ought  to  rest  somewhere  in 
all  well  regulated  governments.  Courts  and  juries,  witnesses  and 
prosecutors,  however  honestly  intentioned,  will  coujmit  errors. 
Partialities,  prejudices,  sudden  excitements,  very  good  or  very 
bad  character,  and  other  causes  will  frequently  enter  the  most 
cautious  and  best  guarded  court  room  and  form  its  decrees.  When 
unjust,  there  ought  to  bo  an  appeal  for  purposes  of  revision  and 
correction,  and  suspension  of  its  erroneous  and  ha^ty  judgments. 
It  is  preferable  that  the  multitude  of  the  guilty  should  escape, 
rather  than  that  one  innocent  person  should  suffer,  however  august 
and  learned  the  tribunal  which  tried,  or  the  judges  who  pro- 
nounced his  doom.  With  these  views,  I  could  not  consider  the 
power  to  pardon  as  repugnant  to  our  theory  of  government ; 
although  its  abuse,  in  its  exercise  from  selfish  or  partizivu  or  dis- 
honest motives,  may  be  well  considered  a  violation  of  the  spirit 
of  our  glorious  institutions. 

We  have  adopted  so  many  of  the  customs,  habits  and  terms, 
both  good  and  evil,  from  governments  existing  in  the  "old  world" 
before  and  since  the  establishment  of  our  nationality,  that  I  hesi- 
tate to  say  what  wo  have  originated,  what  adopted,  what  made 
a  good  or  bad  imitation  of;  or,  indeed,  to  say  what  is  our  own 
peculiar  polity  on  the  subject.  That  wo  have  endeavored  to 
mitigate  the  severity  of  punishments  and  attempted  the  amend- 
ment instead  of  the  life  of  offenders  furnishes  cause  of  self-gratifi- 
cation. 

But  I  think  we  have  learned  the  lesson  of  '*  forgiveness  and 
mercy"  to  the  trespasser  and  wrong-doer,  ♦♦  after  his  repentance," 
from  "higher  laws"  than  those  of  human  enactment. 

Question  II. 

Is  it,  in  your  opinion,  possible  that,  easily  accessible  as  our 
chief  magistrates  necessarily  are,  the  privilge  of  pardoning  can  be 
guarded  against  frequent  abuse  and  serious  mistakes?  Does,  or 
does  not,  tho  privilege  of  pardoning,  as  it  now  exists,  load,  in 
mony  cases,  to  results  wholly  unconnected  with  the  degree  of 
guilt  or  the  comparative  innocence  of  the  convicts,  and  does  not 
the  o^taining  of  a  pardon  very  frequently  depend  upon  the  in- 
fluence which  can  be  brought  to  bear  on  the  petition  for  the  par- 
don, rather  than  on  the  merits  of  the  case  itself? 


Answers. 

Chief  Justice  Chase,  of  Ohio: — I  can  only  answer  for  Ohio. 
I  do  not  think  the  power  has  been  abused  in  that  state.  Mis- 
takes in  its  exercise  have  doubtless  been  made,  but  mistake  is 


APPENDIX. 


869 


inseparable  from  human  administration.  I  know  of  no  case  in 
Ohio  in  which  the  merits  of  the  case  have  had  less  weight  than  the 
influence  of  applicants  or  their  friends.  Errors  are  usually  on 
the  best  side — that  of  mercy. 

Hon.  A.  H.  HoLLET,  of  Connecticut: — I  have  very  little  doubt 
that  the  power  to  pardon,  when  exercised  by  a  chief  magistrate,  is 
liable  to  abuse,  even  when  such  chief  magistrate  acts  from  the 
purest  motives,  and  with  the  fullest  purpose  of  meeting  the  ends 
of  justice;  chiefly  for  the  reason  that  there  is,  ordinarily,  but  one 
active  party  under  such  application.  Hence  it  differs  but  little, 
if  at  all,  from  an  ex  parte  examination.  Hence,  too,  pardons  are 
frequently  procured  under  the  influences  brought  to  bear  on  the 
petition  for  pardon,  rather  than  on  the  merits  of  the  case  itself. 

Hon.  Israel  Washburn,  of  Maine:  It  will  bo  exceedingly 
difficult  to  guard  it  against  some  abuses  and  many  mistakes. 
Undoubtedly  these  questions  must  be  answered  affirmatively. 

Hon.  Samuel  Wells,  of  Missouri:  No  doubt  some  pardons  are 
granted  when  they  ought  not  to  be,  and  some  are  not  granted 
when  they  ought  to  be,  and  there  is  frequently  a  want  of  proper 
regard  to  the  degree  of  guilt  or  comparative  innocence  of  the 
convicts,  and  pardons  are  sometimes  granted  through  the  influence 
of  the  petitioners,  rather  than  on  the  merits  of  the  case. 

But  the  remedy  for  these  evils  can  be  found  in  the  choice  by 
the  people  of  proper  executives.  Perfection  cannot  be  expected, 
and  errors  are  constantly  arising  in  every  branch  of  the  govern- 
ment. It  depends  on  the  people  whether  they  shall  be  corrected 
or  perpetuated.  It  is  hardly  to  be  expected  that  a  man  devoid  of 
common  judgment  and  practical  ability  will  be  elected  to  the 
office  of  governor.  Although  he  may  act  wisely,  those  who  are 
unacquainted  with  the  facts  and  circumstances  may  think  other- 
wise,  and  place  a  false  estimate  upon  his  conduct. 

Hon.  W.  L.  Greenly,  of  Michigan:  In  my  opinion,  the  privi- 
lege of  pardoning  cannot  be  guarded  against  frequent  abuse  and 
serious  mistakes,  for  the  reason  that  the  executive  cannot,  except 
in  one  or  two  cases,  have  any  knowledge  of  the  circumstances 
attending  the  individual  case,  nor  of  the  habits  or  moral  character 
of  the  convict,  except  such  as  he  may  derive  from  the  petition 
drawn  up  and  presented  by  the  friends  and  relatives  of  the  con- 
vict, and,  in  too  many  instances,  backed  up  by  the  names  of 
responsible,  influential  and  respectable  citizens,  who  are  as  igno- 
rant of  the  circumstances  under  which  the  crime  may  have  been 
committed,  or  of  the  principles  of  the  convicts,  as  the  executive 
himself.  Such  petitions  are  usually  circulated  by  the  wife,  mo- 
ther, sister  or  daughter  of  the  convict,  or  by  some  influential  per- 
son, and,  when  presented,  are  usually  signed  without  any  other 

[Assem.  No.  35.J  24 


\l 


::i 


870 


APPINBU. 


thouffht  or  reflection  than  tbnt  simpl}'  of  getting  rid  of  tbe  impor- 
tunities of  the  persons  presenting  the  petition,  utterly  regardless 
of  the  demands  of  justice  or  the  well-being  of  the  comniuuitj'. 
Again,  powerful  friends,  political  or  otherwise,  too  often  exercJMc 
an  undue  influence,  and  often  procure  a  pardon,  which,  if  resting 
on  the  merits  of  the  case  alone,  would  have  been  refused. 

Hon.  Jno.  A.  Kino,  of  New  York  :  While  the  chief  magistrate 
of  this  state  is  accessible  to  all,  I  know  of  no  instance  where  a 
pardon  has  been  obtained  by  corrupt  or  improper  influence.  lie 
has  the  privilege  of  asking  the  opinion  of  any  judge  of  the  supronio 
court  in  any  case,  in  respect  to  which  his  mind  is  in  doubt,  thus 
bringing  to  his  aid  the  calm  and  deliberate  judgment  of  an  expe- 
rienced and  cultivated  mind. 

■  Hon.  Wm.  F.  Johnston,  of  Pennsylvania :  The  authority  to 
pardon,  existing  with  our  governors,  will  be  abused,  and  frequent 
and  grievous  mistakes  will  occur.  There  is  no  doubt  pardons  are 
frequently  granted  without  reference  to  the  guilt,  innocence  oi 
repentance  of  the  convict.  In  such  cases  the  pardon  is  the  result 
of  other  influences  than  an  honest  investigation  of  the  merits  of 
the  case.  It  cannot  be  otherwise  under  the  system.  The  know- 
ledge of  the  circumstances  of  each  criminal  case  could  not  be  pos- 
sessed by  the  executive,  unless  the  same  is  presented  to  him  by 
persons  daiming  to  be  disinterested,  and  in  whose  statements  and 
fair  dealing,  from  personal  knowledge  or  general  reputation,  the 
executive  is  properly  entitled  to  place  taith  ond  credit.  It  is  a 
peculiarity  of  our  people,  that  they  are  easily  persuaded  to  sign 
and  endorse  any  application  that  appeals  to  them  in  behalf  of 
mercy  and  freedom — hence  ponderous  petitions,  groaning  with 
names  of  the  best  citizens,  are  frequently  presented  to  induce  the 
pardon  of  bad  and  undeserving  convicts.  Your  petitioner  has 
permitted  his  heart,  not  his  judgment,  to  lead  him.  To  this  canso 
many  objectionable  pardons  may  be  attributed.  Many  persons, 
and  many  of  them  of  the  bar,  get  up  and  aid  pardons  for  money. 
I  never  pardoned  u  man  if  I  had  reason  to  believe  the  laioyer  was 
paid  for  his  services.  I  considered  that  ho  violated  his  high  call- 
ing by  all  such  applications. 

Question  III. 

Is  it  your  conviction  that  the  power  of  pard(ming,  as  it  now 
exists,  leads  more  frequently  to  a  defeat  of  the  ends  of  justice  than 
to  the  furtherance  of  a  wise  and  even-handed  administration  of  the 
same  ? 

AnSW£RS. 

Chief  Justice  Ciiase  :  It  is  not. 


APPINDIZ. 


871 


Hon.  A.  H.  HoLLEY,  of  Connectioiit :  When  the  pardoning 
powor  is  confined  to  tho  cxooiitivo  ulone,  I  huv<'  very  little  doubt 
that  its  bxorcise  t^ndg  more  fro<]UOintly  to  defeat  the  t>iult)  of  justice 
than  to  the  furthv. .  unco  of  a  wise  auu  ovou-bandod  aJmiiiistrutioa 
of  tho  same. 

Hon.  Israel  Washburn,  of  Maine  :  I  am  uut  prepared  to  my 
that  it  is. 

Hon.  Samuel  Wells,  of  Maine :  So  far  as  my  knowledge 
extends,  I  should  answer  this  question  in  the  negative.  The  prac- 
tice of  pardoning,  where  the  conviction  was  proper  and  there  is 
not  full  evidence  of  an  entire  reformation  in  the  convict,  is,  in  my 
opinion,  very  pernicious.  It  is  the  letting  loose  of  a  dangerous 
man  to  prey  upon  society.  A  similar  objection  exists  to  a  sen- 
tence for  a  short  period,  when  no  reformation  can  bo  expected. 
As  soon  as  the  offender  is  liberated,  he  at  once  assumes  his  crimi- 
nal course,  and  continues  it  until  he  is  again  arrested.  But  we 
cannot  take  from  the  judges  the  power  of  passing  sentence  upon 
convicted  crirainals.  The  only  remedy  that  exists  for  such  cases 
is  the  appointment  of  wise  and  considerate  judges,  who,  while 
they  look  with  a  merciful  eye  upon  the  prisoner,  will  also  look  with 
a  merciful  eye  upon  the  community. 

Hon.  W.  L.  Greenly,  of  Michigan  :  It  is. 

Hon.  John  A.  King,  of  New  York :  The  power  of  pardoning, 
as  it  now  exists  in  this  state,  has,  upon  the  whole,  served  the  ends 
of  justice. 

Hon.  Wm.  F.  Johnston,  of  Pennsylvania :  I  have  not  sufficient 
facts  within  my  reach  to  answer  this  inquiry.  While  I  know  the 
pardoning  power  has  frequently  defeated  the  ends  of  justice,  I  do 
nut  think  its  exercise  has  been  more  detrimental  than  beneficial  to 
society.  This  opinion  is  scarcely  worth  your  regard,  as  I  have, 
as  stated,  no  data  to  form  it  correctly. 

Permit  me  to  relate  an  incident.  I  had  been  in  the  habit,  by 
way  of  caution,  of  consulting  the  warden  of  the  E&stern  peniten- 
tiary, upon  almost  every  application  for  pardon  of  persons  in  the 
institution  under  his  charge.  I  had  pardoned  a  man,  convicted 
of  some  slight  offence  and  sentenced  for  a  short  time.  Shortly 
after,  I  met  in  the  streets  of  Philadelphia,  the  warden,  who,  after 
the  usual  salutations,  remarked — "Governor,  thee  did  a  great 
wrong  in  pardoning  'Billy  Blink.' "  I  had  no  recollection  of  the 
man  or  case.  The  warden  then  informed  me  that  he  was  a  very 
bad  man,  that  Billy  Blink  was  a  flash  name,  and  that  he  had  been 
either  once  or  twice  before  in  his  custody  as  an  offender,  and  had 
been  pardoned  on  former  occasions.    Being  resolved  to  investi- 


•i 


372 


APPENDIX. 


gate  the  matter,  I  procured,  to  forward  to  the  worthy  warden, 
the  names  of  the  parties  and  influences  they  had  brought  to  boar 
to  procure  the  pardon.  Within  ten  days  or  two  weeks  after  this 
conversation,  I  met  the  warden  at  the  seat  of  government.  In  our 
conversati(m  ho  said,  "I  told  thee.  Governor,  a  few  days  ago,  that 
thou  hadst  done  a  great  wrong  in  pardoning  '  Billy  Blink.'  I  now 
wish  to  withdraw  that  declaration.  He  has  been  convicted,  two 
days  ago,  of  a  much  greater  crime,  and,  indeed,  of  two.  Ho  has 
been  sentenced  to  seven  years  in  the  penitentiary.  He  Is  now 
under  my  care.  So  thee  may  see  that  thee  has  not  done  so  great 
a  wrong  as  I  supposed."  Mr.  Blink  certainly  remained  during 
the  balance  of  my  official  life. 

Yet  this  man  had  secured,  by  some  means,  the  active  exertions 
of  an  eminent  and  worthy  citizen,  whose  position  commanded 
respect,  and  whose  high  character  for  truth  and  honor  forbade 
suspicion  of  improper  motives. 

^  Question  IV. 

Do  you,  or  do  you  not,  think  that  a  recommendation  for  pardon 
by  the  jury,  who  pronounce  the  culprit  guilty,  ought  to  be 
excluded  as  incompatible  with  that  verdict,  and  that  the  recom- 
mendation to  a  merciful  consideration  should  be  restricted  to  the 
judge  or  judges  who  tried  the  case? 

Answers. 

Chief  Justice  Ciiase,  of  Ohio  :  I  Avould  not  exclude  from  con- 
sideration the  recommendation  of  juries  who,  being  selected  for 
trial  of  the  facts,  are,  in  general,  most  competent  to  pronounce  on 
their  value  ;  nor  am  I  prepared  to  say  that  I  would  give  them  less 
weight  than  the  recommendation  of  judges. 

Hon.  A.  H.  HoLLEY,  of  Connecticut :  I  think  the  only  proper 
action  of  a  jury  is  to  determine  whether  a  culprit  is  guilty  or  not 
guilty.  Any  mitigating  circumstances  that  may  have  been  devel- 
oped on  the  trial  are  quite  as  likelj'  to  meet  with  proper  considera- 
tion from  a  judge,  in  making  his  charge,  as  from  a  jury. 

•  Hon  Israel  Washburn,  of  Maine  :  There  are  many  objections 
to  receiving  the  recommendation  of  the  jury,  though  it  may  not 
always  be  incompatible  with  the  verdict.  On  the  whole  I  think 
it  would  be  better  to  restrict  these  recommendations  to  the  judges. 

Hon.  Samuel  Wells,  of  Maine  :  A  recommendation  for  pardon 
generally  grows  out  of  some  mitigating  circumstances  apparent  to 
the  jury.  It  is  merely  the  expression  of  their  individual  opinions, 
has  no  binding  force  in  law,  and  not  much  in  practice.  It  is  not 
easy  to  exclude  it,  for  if  refused  when  the  verdict  is  rendered,  the 
jury  can  present  it  afterwards.     It  is  not  incompatible  with  the 


APPENDIX. 


373 


verdict,  for  when  a  jury  feel  bound  to  convict,  by  the  law  and  by 
the  evidence  at  the  same  time,  they  might  desire  that  the  offender 
should  be  pardoned.  Their  action  is  equivalent  to  saying,  as 
honest  men  wo  are  bound  to  convict  you,  but  from  favorable  cir- 
cumstances in  the  case,  we  would  pardon  you,  if  we  had  the  power. 
A  sensible  executive  would  judge  for  himself  whether  a  convict 
ought  to  be  pardoned,  and  not  substitute  a  mere  recommendation 
of  a  jury  for  his  own  judgment.  I  think  it  is  best  to  let  the  mat- 
ter remain  as  it  is. 

Hon.  W.  L.  Greenly,  of  Michigan :  The  recommendation  of 
the  jury  who  pronounced  the  convict  guilty  would  have  a  tendency 
to  sliow  that,  although,  under  the  law  and  the  testimony,  they 
might  have  felt  bound  to  convict,  still  that  in  their  minds  there 
were  some  extenuating  circumstances  in  the  case.  However,  in 
my  opinion,  the  recommendation  of  such  jury  should  always  be 
accompanied  by  the  recommendation  of  the  judge  who  tried  the 
cause,  with  that  of  the  district  attorney  who  prosecuted  the  case. 

Hon.  John  A.  King,  of  New  York :  A  recommendation  for  par- 
don by  the  jury  should  not  be  forbidden,  for  while  the  stern 
requirments  of  the  law  are  satisfied  by  its  verdict,  the  merciful 
feelings  of  the  heart  should  never  be  wholly  stifled.  The  jury 
and  not  the  judge  should  recommend  to  mercy.  It  is  the  province 
of  the  jury  to  weigh  the  testimony  and  to  agree  upon  a  verdict, 
and  of  the  judge  to  pronounce  the  sentence  of  the  law. 

Hon  Wm.  F.  Johnston,  of  Pennsylvania :  I  would  not  regard 
the  petition  or  recommendation  of  a  jury  for  the  pardon  of  a 
criminal  whom  it  had  found  guilty,  unless  based  upon  after  dis- 
covered testimony.  It  is  simply  asking  us  to  be  guided  by  their 
"  word,"  instead  of  their  oath.  I  consider  it  a  weakness  and 
infirmity  of  purpose  for  a  juror  to  ask  or  unite  in  such  applications. 
I  know  no  reason  why  a  judge  who  has  tried  a  cause  should  not  be 
heard  in  r.n  application  for  mercy.  Law  may  demand  conviction 
and  sentence,  and  yet  the  "  end  and  purpose  "  of  all  punishment 
and  penalties  being  tlie  reformation  of  the  offender,  a  conscientious 
judge,  thus  knowing  all  the  circumstances  and  minutiro  of  the 
case,  may  be  regarded  as  a  very  safe  adviser.  Within  my  experi- 
ence, I  found  judges  very  seldom  interfered  in  such  matters. 

Question  V. 

Is  it  your  opinion  that  the  ends  of  justice  and  the  real  interests 
of  the  convicts  themselves  would  be  better  promoted,  if  tlie  power 
of  pardoning  in  the  executive  were  modified  and  circumscribed  by 
a  wisely  organized  council  board  of  pardon,  as  is  the  case  in  some 
states  in  this  country  and  in  some  European  governments ;  or  do 
you  regard  the  power  of  pardoning  as  an  inherent,  absolute  and 


't 


374 


APPENDIX. 


essential  attribute  of  the  executive,  so  that  it  ought  to  continue  in 
the  same  form  in  which  it  now  exists  in  nearly  all  the  states  ? 

Answebs. 

Chief  Justice  Chase,  of  Ohio:  •'  In  the  multitude  of  counsellors 
there  is  safety,"  though  not  always  for  the  counselled.  As  gov- 
ernor, I  should  certainly  like  the  aid  to  counsel  conclusions  and 
the  diminution  of  responsibility  which  a  wisely  organized  council 
or  pardon  board  would  afford.  I  by  no  means  think  that  the 
power  of  pardon  is  an  inherent,  absolute  and  essential  attribute  of 
the  exeicutive.  On  the  contrary,  it  is  in  my  judgment  neither 
inherent,  nor  absolute,  nor  essential.  It  must  be  somewhere,  how- 
ever, or  gross  wrongs  would  remain  without  correctives;  but  it  is 
for  the  people  of  each  state  to  say  where  it  shall  be  lodged. 


Hon.  Wm.  W.  Ellsworth,  of  Connecticut: 
in  Connecticut  is  quite  satisfactory  to  me. 


The  course  pursued 


Hon.  A.  H.  HoLLEY,  of  Connecticut:  I  do  not  regard  the  par- 
doning power  as  an  inherent  right,  or  as  an  essential  attribute  of 
the  executive;  nor  should  it  exist  in  any  state  in  that  form. 

Let  it  be  thoroughly  understood  that  certain  and  speedy  pun^ 
ishment  will  follow  the  conviction  of  crime,  and  in  my  judgment, 
the  number  of  criminals  will  soon  be  greatly  diminished. 

Hon.  Israel  Washburn,  of  Maine:  I  think  the  pardoning  power 
should  not  be  vested  in  the  chief  magistrate  alone. 

In  Maine,  the  governor  may  pardon  only  upon  the  advice  of  the 
executive  council,  a  body  of  seven  members,  elected  annually  by 
the  Legislature.  No  doubt  the  power  would  be  more  wisely  and 
judiciously  exercised  if  vested  in  a  governor  or  chief  executive, 
upon  the  advice  of  a  special  board  of  pardon,  such  as  is  mentioned 
in  the  question. 

Hon.  Saihjel  Wells,  of  Maine:  It  might  be  diflBcult  to  obtain 
"  a  wisely  orgaiu'zed  council  or  board  of  pardon,"  and  such  council 
or  board  would  be  liable  to  the  same  influences  as  now  operate 
upon  the  executives. 

It  is  not  perceived  that  there  could  be  any  material  difference 
in  the  examination  of  a  case  of  pardon,  and  the  decision  in  refe- 
rence to  it  between  a  governor  and  council  and  a  board  of 
pardon.  If  they  were  sensible  men,  their  views  would  be  similar. 
A  "council  or  board  of  pardon"  would  be  full  as  likely  to  yield 
to  popular  clamor  or  tender  sensibilities  as  the  executive.  They 
would  be  constantly  assailed  and  soon  become  unpopular,  and 
their  usefulness  impaired.  They  would  be  a  sort  of  collateral 
power  in  the  government,  unsupported  by  either  branch  of  it. 

I  think  the  pardoning  power  should  remtiin  with  the  executive. 


APPENDIX. 


375 


The  people  can  determine  by  their  constitutions  whether  it  shall 
be  an  attribute  of  executive  power  or  not.  It  is  certainly  not  an 
eijsential  attribute  to  the  existence  of  the  executive  power,  but,  in 
my  judgment,  properly  appertains  to  it. 


Hon.  W.  L.  Greenly,  of  Michigan:  There  are  cases  constantly 
arising,  in  reference  to  which  after  conviction  may  be  had,  some 
evidence  has  come  to  light,  or  some  circumstances  have  arisen, 
showing  that  the  convict  was  illegally  or  unjustly  convicted;  and 
of  course,  in  such  cases,  the  law  should  invest  in  some  individual 
or  some  board  the  power  to  pardon,  and  I  think  that  a  wisely 
organized  board  of  pardon  would  be  the  proper  pardoning  power. 

Hon.  John  A.  King,  of  New  York:  I  think  the  ends  of  justice 
are  best  promoted  by  giving  the  power  of  pardoning  to  the  execu- 
tive alone,  as  one  of  its  essential  attributes.  The  responsibility  is 
then  perfect.  An  organized  council  or  board  of  pardon  divides 
the  responsibility  among  several,  which  should,  in  my  judgment, 
belong  to  one.  I  therefore  regard  the  power  of  pardoning  as  an 
inherent,  absolute  and  essential  attribute  of  the  executive,  which 
should  be  continued  in  the  same  form  in  which  it  now  exists  in 
nearly  all  the  states. 


Hon.  Wm.  F.  Johnston,  of  Pennsylvania:  I  don't  know  to  what 
extent  an  advisory  committee  might  be  beneficial  in  aiding  an 
executive  in  the  exercise  of  this  responsible  power.  Divided  res- 
ponsibilities do  not  work  well  in  most  matters,  whether  public. or 
private.  If  an  organized  council  of  wise  and  honest  men,  beyond 
the  reach  of  personal  or  partizan  influences,  would  advise  with  an 
executive,  it  might  occasionally  prevent  errors.  If  such  council 
is  wise  to  advise,  it  is  well  enough  to  let  it  act.  I  would  not  advo- 
cate the  adoption  of  a  system  that  would  enable  the  executive  to 
charge  the  council,  or,  vice  versa — with  any  great  injury  that  might 
arise  from  an  injudicious  pardon.  In  the  formation  of  laws  and 
institutions,  there  may  be  safety  in  a  multitude  of  counsellors;  in 
the  execution  of  laws  and  duties,  I  think  it  is  otherwise.  Let  us 
have  no  divided  or  shifting  responsibility. 

I  consider  that  the  proper  and  best  depository  oC44^he  pardon- 
ing power,  is  where  it  will  be  most  faithfully  exercised.  I  do 
not  regard  it  as  an  inherent,  absolute  and  essential  attribute  of  the 
chief  magistrate  of  any  people. 

Question  VI. 

If  you  ihink  that  there  should  be  a  council  or  board  of  pardon, 
is  it  your  opinion  that,  whenever  state  constitutions  are  changed, 
authority  ought  to  be  conferred  upon  the  legislature  to  establish 
such  councils  or  boards? 


k-i 


376 


APPENDS. 


Answers. 

Chief  Justice  Chase,  of  Ohio:  I  see  no  objection  to  legislative 
authority  to  establish  such  a  council  or  board.  It  would,  doubt- 
less, be  exercised  or  not,  and  if  exercised,  exercised  wisely,  with 
reference  to  the  circumstances  of  each  state. 

Hon.  A.  H.  HoLLEY,  of  Connecticut:  The  pardoning  power 
should  be  restricted  to  the  legislature  of  the  state.  A  council  or 
board  of  pardon  being  in  existence  perpetually,  is  accessible  at  all 
times,  and  if  its  decision  were  final,  there  would  probably  be  less 
searching  investigation  than  there  would  be  before  a  legislature, 
acting,  as  is  the  custom  in  these  days,  upon  the  report  of  a  com- 
mittee. Such  a  committee  would  be  an  appropriate  council,  and 
its  report  would  be  subject  to  investigation  by  the  body  appoint- 
ing it. 

Hon.  IsBAEL  Washburn,  of  Maine:  Unquestionably — aye. 

Hon.  Samuel  Wells,  of  Maine:  The  answer  to  the  fifth  ques- 
tion is  an  answer  to  this. 

Hon.  Wm.  L.  Gbeeni.t,  of  Michigan:  I  do  think  that  the  con- 
stitution of  each  state  should  confer  upon  the  legislature  the 
authority  to  establish  such  board,  and  in  justice  to  the  governor 
and  to  the  people,  should  divest  the  governor  of  the  pardoning 
power. 

Hon.  John  A.  King,  of  New  York:  For  the  reason  assigned  in 
my  answer  to  the  preceding  question,  I  think  that  there  should  not 
be  a  council  or  board  of  pardon;  and  that  authority  should  not 
be  conferred  by  state  convention  on  the  legislature  to  establish 
such  council  or  board. 

Hon.  Wm.  F.  Johnston,  of  Pennsylvania:  Believing  that  a  coun- 
cil or  board  of  pardon,  whether  acting  with  or  without  the  execu- 
tive, would  not  lessen  the  evils  arising  from  an  abuse  of  the  par- 
doning power,  I  could  not  recommend  its  creation  by  legislative 
authority.  ,Jf,  indeed,  it  should  be  the  best  depository  of  the 
power,  let  the  authority  be  conferred  by  the  organic  laws  or  con- 
stitutional provision.  These  boards  may  become  the  instruments 
of  party  hatred  or  partialities,  or  may  be  condemned  unjustly  by 
such  influences.  They,  at  least,  ought  to  be  permanent  enough 
to  secure  them  from  sudden  changes.  Our  legislatures  change 
frequently,  and  never  fail  to  sacrifice  those  whom  they  cannot  con- 
trol. Freshly  conferred  power  is  always  gently  tried,  and  fre- 
quent]}' without  regard  to  ulterior  results. 


APPENDIX. 


577 


Question  VII. 

Is  there  any  other  mode  besides  that  indicated  in  questions  V 
and  VI,  whereby  the  power  of  pardon  can  be  properly  limited  or 
regulated  ? 

AXSWEBS. 

Chief  Justice  Chase,  of  Ohio  :  It  might  be  properly  limited  by 
constitutional  provisions  operating  directly;  and  I  am  inclined  to 
think  that  its  restriction  (except  perhaps  under  special  circum- 
stances)  to  offences  and  crimes  after  conviction,  would  be  wise. 

Hon.  A.  H.  Holley,  of  Connecticut :  There  may  be  other  and 
wiser  methods  of  regulating  the  pardoning  power,  but  I  have  not 
lite  vanity  nor  the  wisdom  to  indicate  what  they  should  be. 

Hon.  Israel  Washbubn,  of  Maine  :  No  other  so  good  has 
occurred  to  me. 

Hon.  Samuel  Wells,  of  Maine :  If  the  power  of  pardon  should 
be  taken  from  the  executive,  a  council  or  board  of  pardon  might 
be  the  next  best  depository  of  the  power.  But  it  is  my  opinion 
that  the  power  ought  to  remain  with  the  executive. 

Hon.  Wm.  L.  Gbeenly,  of  Michigan :  None  that  occurs  to  me. 

Hon.  Jno.  a.  King,  of  New  York :  I  know  of  no  mode  by 
which  the  power  of  pardon  can  be  properly  limited  or  regulated. 

Hon.  "Wm.  F.  Johnston,  of  Pennsylvania:  I  believe  the  power 
would  be  more  safely  lodged  with  the  officers  of  our  prisons  than 
anywhere  else.  They  are  necessarily  well  acquainted  with  the 
character  and  conduct  of  the  convict.  His  submission  to  law  and 
order,  his  repentance,  his  reformation  or  contumacy,  are  all  within 
their  knowledge.  They  are  supposed  to  feel  no  sickly  sentimen- 
tality. They  w^ould  learn  from  their  records  the  persons  who 
were  usually  engaged  in  pardon  "brokerage,"  or  whose  names 
were  indiscriminately  found  to  all  applications,  and  whose  influence 
was  constantly  presented  for  such  indiscriminate  pardons.  They 
would  soon  understand  and  appreciate  accurately  the  quality  and 
qimntUy  of  brains  and  hearts  possessed  by  the  judges  of  criminal 
courts  in  different  districts.  With  this  knowledge  or  means  of 
correct  information,  a  mistake  would  seldom  occur  in  the  exercise 
of  the  power  of  pardon.  I  make  this  suggestion  for  j'our  conside* 
ration,  hoping  that  in  your  extended  investigation  some  better 
mode  may  be  adopted. 


i^ 


378 


APPENDIX. 


Letter  from  the  Hon.  Washington  Hunt  or  New  York. 

LocKPOKT,  N.  Y.,  August  10,  1865. 

Gentlemen  : — I  have  received  your  circular  letter,  requesting 
me  to  answer  some  questions  in  relation  to  the  pardoning  power. 
My  engagements  make  it  inconvenient  for  me,  at  the  present  mo- 
ment, to  enter  upon  a  full  discussion  of  this  important  subject : 
but  I  will  endeavor  to  give  my  views  briefly  on  some  of  the  princi- 
ple points,  presented  by  your  iuterrogatories. 

Our  present  system,  which  clothes  the  executive,  with  an 
unlimited  power  of  pardon,  is  liable  to  many  and  grave  objections. 
The  strongest  argument  that  can  be  urged  in  its  favor  is  that  it 
renders  a  single  functionary  directly  responsible  for  the  honest 
and  enlightened  exercise  of  the  power.  It  must  be  conceded  that 
this  consideration  is  entitled  to  some  force.  But  when  you  refloll 
upon  the  nature  of  this  prerogative,  the  arduous  labors  and  pain- 
ful responsibilities  inseparable  from  it,  I  believe  it  might  be  more 
wisely  delegated  to  a  board  or  council,  composed  of  persons 
thoroughly  qualified  by  study  and  experience,  and  enabled  to 
devote  their  minds  to  the  subject,  free  from  the  weight  of  other 
official  avocations.  There  are  other  functions  of  his  office,  which 
demand  from  the  executive  his  constant  care,  and  his  highest 
energies.  It  is  not  enough  that  the  Governor  may  possess  all  the 
desired  qualifications  for  the  judicious  use  of  the  power  of  pardon, 
such  as  thorough  knowledge  of  criminal  jurisprudence  and  prac- 
tice, combined  with  clearness  of  judgment  and  firmness  of  will.  In 
a  large  and  populous  state  like  our  own,  the  applications  are  so 
numerous  and  the  labor  of  investigating  them  so  arduous  and  per- 
plexing, that  no  mind,  however  rapid  or  comprehensive,  can  do 
full  justice  to  the  subject,  without  neglecting,  in  some  degree,  those 
legitimate  executive  duties,  which  concern  the  whole  people  and 
perhaps  involve  the  most  vital  public  interests. 

This  is  more  especially  the  case  during  the  session  of  the  Legis- 
lature. I  consider  it  desirable  in  every  point  of  view,  that  the 
Governor  should  be  relieved  from  daily  appeals  and  importunities 
for  the  exercise  of  clemency.  Our  system  was  derived  from  the 
mother  country,  where  the  power  of  pardon  is  an  attribute  of  the 
crown.  The  framers  of  our  constitution  were  naturally  influenced 
by  precedent  and  analogy,  and  at  that  early  period,  perha'ps  it  was 
reasonable  to  assume  that  the  Chief  Magistrate,  chosen  by  the  peo- 
ple, would  prove  to  be  the  safest  depository  of  this  delicate  power. 
In  a  monarchy  there  is  much  to  be  said  in  favor  of  vesting  in  the 
ruling  prince,  the  prerogative  of  mercy.  But  this  theory  is  inap- 
plicable in  a  republic,  where  the  executive  is  elected  by  the  people 
for  a  limited  term  of  office. 

I  assume,  however,  that  the  pardoning  power  will  always  bo 
retained  in  some  department  of  the  government.  My  official  expe- 
rience confirmed  my  previous  opinion  that  such  a  power  is  neces- 
sary, and  that  any  sj'stem  of  justice  which  excluded  it,  would  prove 


APPENDIX. 


879 


defective.  In  offences  coming  under  the  same  general  ulasniiication 
und  subject  to  the  same  penalty,  there  arc  many  shades  and  degrees 
of  guilt.  It  frequently  happens  that  there  are  mitigating  circum- 
stances, which  ought  to  reduce  the  penalty  imposed  hy  the  strict 
letter  of  the  law;  and  sometimes  youthful  offenders  furnish  such 
proofs  of  reformation,  that  both  justice  and  mercy  demand  a  reduc- 
tion of  the  sentence.  From  the  very  nature  of  the  power  of  par- 
don, it  must  be  largely  discretionary.  To  limit  and  restrain, 
would  virtually  destroy  it.  I  do  not  think  it  admits  of  material 
abridgement;  but  wheresoever  it  may  be  placed,  its  exercise  should 
be  subject  to  the  most  direct  responsibility  to  the  state  and  to 
public  opinion.  In  addition  to  the  present  requirement,  the  annual 
list  submitted  to  the  Legislature  should  state  concisely  the  ground 
of  pardon,  in  each  case. 

That  the  power  in  question  is  liable  to  abuse,  cannot  be  disputed. 
But  all  human  institutions  are  imperfect,  and  the  same  objection 
applies,  with  more  or  less  force,  to  other  functions  of  government, 
especially  in  those  branches  of  the  administration  where  much  is 
left  to  the  discretion  of  official  agents.  The  appointing  power,  the 
veto  power,  the  legislative  power,  may  be  improperly  exercised 
and  perverted  from  their  original  ends,  but  for  these  evils,  when 
they  occur,  our  system  of  frequent  elections  affords  the  most  effec- 
tive remedy.  Our  aim  should  be  to  establish  every  fit  and  prac- 
ticable safeguard  to  insure  fidelity  in  the  exercise  of  public  autho- 
rity. I  am  not  prepared  to  adopt  the  conclusion  that  the  pardoning 
power  has  been  abused  to  any  such  extent  as  is  sometimes  assumed. 
In  the  exercise  of  the  power,  a  man  of  sound  principles  must  feel 
that  he  is  executing  a  very  sacred  trust,  and  he  will  deem  it  a 
point  of  honor  and  conscience  to  discharge  the  duty  independently, 
unmoved  by  personal  or  political  influences.  I  have  never  known 
such  influences  to  have  any  weight  in  respect  to  applications  for 
pardons;  but  the  governor  is  always  in  danger  of  being  misled  by 
partial  statements  and  imperfect  information.  He  is  also  liable  to 
err  in  judgment  when  possessed  of  all  the  facts  in  the  case.  He 
is  subjected  to  a  continual  struggle  between  his  sympathies  and  his 
convictions  of  duty.  The  greatest  danger  of  all  is  that  in  some 
cases  he  may  yield  to  feelings  of  kindness  and  compassion,  so  far 
as  to  impair  the  supremacy  of  law  and  defeat  the  ends  of  justice. 
But  if  the  power  is  exercised  with  reasonable  discrimination  and 
firmness,  I  do  not  conceive  that  it  is  calculated  to  promote  crime 
or  weaken  the  administration  of  justice.  In  the  outset,  most 
offenders  indulge  the  belief  that  they  will  escape  detection  or  con- 
viction. The  hope  of  pardon  arises  after  the  trial  and  sentence, 
and  stimulates  an .  appeal  to  executive  clemency.  I  consider  the 
practice,  which  is  often  adopted  by  juries,  of  annexing  to  their 
verdict  a  recommendation  for  pardon,  highly  objectionable.  It 
ought  to  be  stnmgly  discountenanced,  if  not  prohibited.  If  there 
are  special  circumstances  calling  for  executive  interference,  the 


;:E! 


• 


380 


APPENDIX. 


duty  of  presenting  them  should  be  left  to  the  judges  and  public 
prosecutors. 

In  reply  to  your  sixth  interrogatory,  I  must  say,  that  in  my 
opinion  ••  the  ends  of  justice  and  the  interests  of  the  convicts 
themselves  would  be  better  promoted,  if  the  power  of  pardoning 
in  the  executive  were  modified  and  circumscribed  by  a  wisely 
organized  council  or  board  of  pardon,  as  is  the  case  in  some  states 
in  this  country,  and  in  some  European  governments."  It  would 
invigorate  and  greatly  improve  the  administration  of  the  executive 
department,  by  releasing  the  incumbent  from  one  of  his  most 
laborious  and  embarrassing  responsibilities.  I  hope  to  see  this 
change  of  system  established  in  the  next  revision  of  our  state 
constitution.  It  is  only  by  an  organic  amendment  that  the  object 
can  be  reached.  Such  a  council  as  I  have  indicated  should  bo 
composed  mainly  of  judges  who  have  retired  from  service,  and 
whose  weight  of  character,  no  less  than  their  judicial  and  profes- 
sional experience,  would  inspire  public  confidence  and  insure  a 
wise  and  intelligent  exercise  of  this  delicate  prerogative.  I  have 
thus  expressed  my  views  in  a  desultory  manner,  without  follow- 
ing strictly  the  order  of  your  interrogatories.  You  are  at  liberty 
to  use  my  answer  in  any  mode  which  you  may  deem  advisable. 
Very  respectfully,  \ 

Your  obedient  servant, 

WASHINGTON  HUNT. 
Messrs.  Francis  Lieber,  LL.D.,  Theodore  W.  Dwiqht,  LL.D., 

E.  C.  Wines,  D.  D.,  &c.,  &c. 

Letter  from  the  Hon.  E.  T.  Throop,  or  New  York. 

To  the  Honorable  Francis  Lieber,  Vice-President  N'.  Y.  Prison 
Association  ;  Theodore  W.  Dwight,  Chairman  Ex.  Committee ; 
E.  C.  Wines,  Corresponding  Secretary  : 

Gentlemen — Responding  to  the  questions  in  your  circular, 
propounded  to  the  former  chief  magistrates,  respecting  the  par- 
doning power,  a  copy  of  which  I  have  had  the  honor  to  receive,  I 
deem  it  not  inappropriate  to  premise,  that  up  to  the  time  that  I 
entered  upon  the  duties  of  the  executive  of  this  state,  I  had  been 
familiar  with  the  working  of  the  system  of  imprisonment  for 
crimes  at  the  state  prison  at  Auburn,  as  it  was  in  my  immediate 
neighborhood,  and  its  management  had  been  in  the  hands  of  my 
friends.  And  further,  that  during  the  five  years  immediately 
preceding,  I  had  been  the  presiding  judge  of  courts,  having  juris- 
diction of  crimes  of  everj'^  degree. 

In  my  message  to  the  legislature  in  1830,  I  thus  expressed  my- 
self on  the  subject  of  pardons  : 

"I  have  pardoned  from  the  state  prison,  twenty-eight  convicts. 
Nearly  all  cf  those  pardons  were  granted  in  cases  where,  first, 
great  doiibts  of  guilt  were  certified  to  me  by  the  courts  before 
Avhom  the  convictions  took  place,  and  those  doubts  appeared  to 


APPENDIX. 


381 


mo  well  founded,  on  examining  a  full  statement  of  the  coses ; 
secondly,  on  personal  examination  and  inquiry  of  the  keepers  of 
the  prison  and  the  presiding  judges  as  to  certain  convicts  for  whom 
petitions  had  not  been  presented,  and  whom  I  deemed  fit  objects 
of  mercy  ;  and  thirdly,  from  want  of  sufficient  latitude  of  discre- 
tion in  the  courts,  sentences  too  severe  were  necessarily  imposed." 

In  my  message  of  1831,  I  say:  "  I  have  pardoned  from  the 
state  prison,  dunng  the  past  year,  seventy-six  convicts.  A  great 
portion  of  them  are  persons  to  whom  my  attention  was  called  by 
the  officers  of  the  respective  prisons,  and  who  were  recommended 
to  executive  clemency  by  their  youth  or  long  sentences,  particu- 
larly for  life,  on  account  of  trifling  burglaries.  I  found  them 
enduring  punishment  incompatible  with  the  mitigated  severity  of 
our  laws." 

In  my  message  of  1832,  I  thus  say:  *'  I  have  pardoned  out  of 
the  state  prison  during  the  last  year,  seventy-three  convicts.  A 
great  proportion  of  these  cases  were  brought  to  my  notice  without 
the  intervention  of  friends,  for  many  of  them  had  none;  and  their 
claim  to  pardon,  in  some  cases,  became  equitable  on  account  of 
the  mitigated  punishments  for  similar  crimes,  prescribed  by  the 
revision  of  the  laws." 

In  the  above  abstracts,  you  have  my  views  of  the  propriety  of 
pardoning  in  cases,  which  inevitably  will  occur,  deserving  it,  and 
consequently,  of  the  necessity  of  a  pardoning  power.  Neither 
reflection  nor  experience  since  has  changed  my  opinion.  In  the 
exercise  of  this  power,  a  sensitive  nature  will  be  severely  tried, 
and  pained  to  reject  the  prayers,  and  resist  the  earnest,  pathetic, 
passionate  and  persevering  appeals  of  wives,  children,  sisters  and 
parents,  for  mercy  to  a  supposed  repentant  relative;  but  if  the 
executive  has  clear  views  of  his  dutj',  he  will  discharge  it  without 
remorse,  and  be  comforted  by  an  approving  conscience.  Thus, 
although  burdened,  in  the  language  of  your  question,  with  a 
"  painful  moral  responsibility,"  it  seems  to  me  he  has  no  occasion 
to  regret  it. 

To  the  questions  whether  the  pardoning  power  is  judiciously 
vested  in  the  executive,  or  whether  it  would  not  be  more  discreet- 
ly exercised  by  an  "  organized  board  of  pardon,"  I  must  say  that 
1  do  not  see  where  that  power  can  be  so  safely  lodged  as  with  the 
executive.  The  search  for  a  perfect  depository  of  the  power  is 
vain,  and  Avill  be  fruitless — all  experience  gives  us  a  mortifying 
view  of  humanity.  An  executive,  perfect  in  his  intellectual  or 
moral  nature,  is  not  to  be  found,  however  superior  he  may  be  to 
other  men;  nor  are  the  people,  although  swayed  by  honest  pur- 
poses, always  right  in  their  choice  of  persons  to  fill  public  offices. 
But  where  can  power  be  more  wiseh'  lodged  than  with  a  person 
chosen  to  exercise  the  higliest  functions  of  government  by  a  con- 
stituency too  broad  for  corruption  to  cover?  He  may  be  un- 
M'orthy,  but  chosen  from  the  most  conspicuous  class  of  citizens 
with  a  well  known  character,  it  is  not  too  much  charity  to  suppose 


882 


APPENDIX. 


that  moral  unfitness  for  his  high  trust  will  bo  an  exception.  And 
should  such  a  one  ever  receive  from  the  people  that  proof  of  con- 
tidenco,  the  public  have  a  security  in  his  interest  and  his  pride; 
for,  conscious  of  his  responsibility  to  a  jealous  and  scrutinizing 
public,  he  would  be  proniptful  to  a  just  and  unexceptionable  dis- 
charge of  his  duties.  On  the  other  hand,  a  board  of  divided 
responsibility  is  nuich  more  accessible  to  corruption;  every  mem- 
ber is  an  avenue  through  which  the  wily  advocate  may  approach 
his  object. 

The  framers  of  our  state  constitution  deemed  it  wise  to  surround 
the  executive  with  a  council,  without  whose  assent  no  appointment 
to  office  could  be  made,  and  another  to  check  him  in  the  exercise 
of  his  function  in  assenting  to  or  vetoing  a  law ;  but,  after  sutfi- 
cient  experience,  these  councils  Avere  abolished,  on  the  ground 
that  a  divided  responsibilty  was  inexpedient,  and  that  it  was  more 
safe  to  leave  the  executive  alone  to  the  discharge  of  those  duti(!s. 
The  council  for  the  revision  of  the  laws,  composed  of  the  chancel- 
lor and  judges  of  the  supreme  court  (men,  up  to  that  time  of 
eminent  charactei'),  and  the  council  of  appointment,  selected  by 
the  house  of  representatives  and  of  the  senate,  were  abolished  ))y 
the  amended  constitution,  and  the  responsibility  of  nominating  to 
office  was  imposed  upon  the  governor  with  the  only  restraint, 
that  nominations  to  office  should  not  take  effect  without  the  assent 
of  the  senate. 

Then,  again,  what  power  should  create  this  board  of  pardon? 
If  the  governor — is  it  not  better  that  he  should  do  the  thing  him- 
self and  be  accountable  for  it,  than  to  do  it  by  indirection,  ivnu 
throw  the  responsibility  upon  a  board?  If  the  legislature — ^vt 
have  too  many  and  painful  proofs  of  the  little  reliar.cc  to  bo 
placed  upon  the  action  of  that  body,  when  political  or  private  or 
personal  interests  are  in  question  before  them.  If  the  people  at 
large,  by  popular  vote — they  do  it  when  they  elect  a  governor, 
and  there  is  no  reason  to  believe  that  they  would  act  with  more 
caution,  or  even  as  much,  when  voting  for  a  board,  than  when 
voting  for  their  governor. 

The  tribunal  of  mercy  should  be  accessible,  and  the  meanest 
meet  no  obstruction  in  his  approach  to  it,  yet  it  may  be  wise  to 
encumber  the  exercise  of  its  powers  with  many  prudential  rules. 
While  I  express  the  opinion  that  there  should  reside,  somewhere, 
an  unlimited  power  of  pardoning  to  mitigate  the  severity  and 
modify  the  unequal  operation  of  laws  (necessarily  general,  regard- 
ing classes  and  not  individual  cases),  and  also  to  consider  matters, 
which  would  not  come  under  consideration  at  the  trial,  perhaps 
occurring  subsequently,  I  think  it  the  duty  of  the  legislature  to 
surround  the  exercise  of  that  power  by  every  practicable  precau- 
tion. The  pardoning  power  should  be  conferred,  sulyect  to  the 
right  of  the  legislature  to  prescril)e  rules  for  its  exercise.  I  made 
it  a  rule  in  all  cjises,  to  call  upon  the  ji^^ge  for  a  statement  of  the 
case,  and  his  opinion,  and  to  demand  of  ihe  keeper  of  the  prison 


APPENDIX. 


888 


nil  account  of  the  convict's  conduct  and  what  he  know  of  his  his* 
lory.  I  omitted  this  precaution  in  only  one  case.  While  in  the 
city  of  New  York,  the  counsel  for  a  convict  called  upon  rae  and 
stated  the  case  of  a  youth  under  ago,  of  respectable  parontuiro  in 
Boston,  who  had  the  misfortune  to  commit  u  first  offence,  and  was 
very  penitent,  and  his  parents  were  anxious  to  have  him  in  charge 
tbut  they  might  regulate  his  morals.  I  called  upon  the  judge  for 
a  statement,  and  he  appeared  before  me  with  his  book  of  mnnitcs 
and  confirmed  the  relation  of  the  counsel.  It  seemed  to  mc  so 
clear  a  case  that  I  issued  the  pardon  at  once  without  asking  advice 
from  the  keeper  of  the  prison.  The  next  day  I  received  u  letter 
from  the  keeper  of  the  Sing  Sing  prison,  saying,  "I  have  let  out  of 
prison,  on  your  pardon,  a  person  convicted  by  a  false  name,  who 
has  been  several  times  convicted,  and  whom  you  knew  by  his  true 
name,  a  desperate  malefactor  in  the  Auburn  stute  prison." 

To  the  precautions  above  mentioned  others  might  be  added, 
such  as  a  notice  of  the  application  for  pardon,  to  elicit  informa- 
tion of  the  case  and  of  the  character  of  the  individual.  This 
notice  should  be  puljlished  and  u  copy  served  upon  the  keeper  of 
the  prison.  After  pardon  granted,  a  brief  statement  of  the  case 
and  the  grounds  for  the  pardon  might  be  recorded  and  published, 
and  a  copy  be  sent  with  the  pardon  to  be  placed  upon  the  prison 
records.  Such  precautions  would  operate  not  only  to  detect 
frauds,  but  to  detect  fraudulent  applicants,  and  also  as  a  caution 
to  the  pardoning  power. 

To  one  of  the  questions  I  reply,  that  I  can  see  no  good  reason 
why  the  juiy  who  try  a  cause  should  not  recommend  the  convict's 
case  to  the  lenient  consideration  of  the  court,  or  where  there  is 
discretion  there,  to  the  clemency  of  the  executive.  A  jury,  called 
upon  to  judge  a  case,  will  sometimes  find  themselves  constrained, 
by  rigid  rules  of  law,  to  do  what  may  seem  to  them  injustice. 
This  is  one  of  the  cases  in  which  the  pardoning  power  may  inter- 
pose in  aid  of  the  just  administration  of  the  law — and  the  opinion 
expressed  of  an  impartial  jury,  selected  by  lot,  and  not  allowed 
to  hear  anything  of  the  case  except  through  the  evidence,  that 
they  were  compelled  to  give  a  verdict  in  conformity  with  law, 
designed  for  cases  of  greater  turpitude  than  the  one  before  them, 
is  deserving  of  respectful  consideration.  I  see  nothing  in  it 
incompatible  with  their  verdict. 

I  cheerfully  comply  with  your  request  to  contribute  my  mite 
to  this  momentous  subject,  and  place  the  foregoing  remarks  at 
your  disposal. 

I  have  the  honor  to  be,  with  respectful  consideration. 

Your  obedient  servant, 

E.  T.  THROOP. 


m 


m 


m 


i 


884 


APPENDIX. 

Letteb  fbom  Hon.  Wm.  F.  Packer. 


Francis  Leiber,  LL.D.  : 


WiLLIAMSPOKT,  Pa.,  At^.  3,  1865. 


Dear  Sir — The  circular  of  the  Prison  Association  of  New  York, 
proi)()unilinff  certain  quootions  to  the  ex-governors  of  the  sovorul 
states,  relative  to  the  pardoning  power,  is  before  me,  and  I  reply 
with  great  pleasure. 

Thiit  the  pardoning  power  should  bo  conferred  on  some  dcpnrt< 
mcnt  of  each  state  government,  is,  in  my  opinion,  unqnestionuhly 
true.  That,  occasionally,  the  privilege  of  ptirdoning  will  be  abused 
or  unwisely  exercised  is  equally  true.  But  after  the  experience 
of  throe  years  as  governor  of  Pennsylvania,  and  after  carefully 
examining  hundreds  of  cases  which  came  before  me  during  that 
period,  I  am  satisfied  that  nothing  would  be  gained  by  taking 
away  the  pardoning  power  from  the  chief  magistrate  of  a  state 
and  his  cabinet,  and  conferring  it  on  a  "  council  or  board  of  pur- 
don,"  or  on  any  other  tribunal.  AVhile  you  have  human  agents  to 
discharge  public  official  duties,  you  cannot,  in  the  performance  of 
those  duties,  expect  entire  freedom  from  the  errors,  the  passions, 
the  prejudices,  and  the  frailties  of  humanity.  You  will  look  in 
vain  for  perfection,  no  matter  where  you  may  confide  the  par<- 
doning  power.  For  myself,  I  would  trust  the  chief  executive  oi: 
a  state,  in  view  of  his  great  responsibility,  aided  by  the  counsel 
of  his  legal  advisers,  with  quite  as  much  confidence  as  I  would  any 
"  council  or  board  of  pardon  "  that  could  possibly  be  selected. 

Believing,  therefore,  that  the  power  of  pardoning  should  exist 
somewhere,  in  every  state,  and  believing  also  that  there  is  no 
safer  nor  better  ilepository  for  that  power  than  the  chief  magis- 
trate of  the  commonwealth,  I  would  not  disturb  the  present  sys- 
tem, as  it  exists  in  Pennsylvania.  The  founders  of  our  institutions 
and  the  framers  of  our  constitutions  were,  in  my  judgment,  quite 
as  wise,  as  moral  and  as  patriotic,  as  those  governmental  innova- 
tors of  the  present  day,  who  seek  to  disturb  settled  opinions  and 
established  systems  and  customs,  by  experiments  of  more  than 
doubtful  propriety. 

Entertaining  these  views,  I  have  not  thought  it  necessary  to 
answer  your  queries  in  detail.     Substantially  they  are  all  answered. 

I  have  no  objection  to  the  publication  of  this  letter. 

With  great  respect, 

I  am  yours,  truly, 

WM.  F.  PACKER. 


Letter  from  Hon.  Henry  Dutton. 

New  Haven,  Conn.,  F^.  9,  1866. 
Rev.  E.  C.  Wines,  D.  D.: 

Dear  Sir — I  do  not  deem  it  important  to  reply  fully  to  your 
circular  letter,  since  iu  this  state   the  solo  pardoning  power  is 


APPENDIX. 


885 


vested  in  the  lugisluture.  Iloncc  tho  execution  of  uU  criminals, 
convicted  ot'capitul  ofluncos,  in  i'('«|iiircd  by  luw  to  l)0  postponed, 
until  nt'tor  tho  session  of  the  genorul  UMScnihly  next  ufter  the  con* 
viction.  I  believe  the  general  Mcntiniont  of  tho  friends  of  justice 
in  this  state  is  in  ftivor  of  our  syMtem.  The  legislature  sometimes 
acts  injudiciously,  but  it  is  very  rare  that  the  convict  of  a  high 
crime  escapes  punishmeut  altojiethor.  The  sentence  is  frequently 
sliortencd,  an«l  death  comnuited  o  imprisonment  for  life.  Favor 
is  shown  to  the  innuUes  of  tlu;  state  prison  somewhat  in  propor- 
tion to  tiieir  penitence  and  good  behaviour.  This  has  a  very  favor- 
able ctt'ect  on  the  rest. 

Your  obedient  servant, 

IIENUY  DUTTON. 


<  ii 


LKrfEU  FUOM  Hon.  Isaac  Toicey,  of  Connkcti'^ut. 

Gentlemen — 1  have  received  your  circular  letter  to  former  chief 
magistrates  of  the  several  states,  i)rop()sing  certain  (]Ucstion8  on  tho 
subject  of  the  pardoning  power,  and  requesting  an  early  answer  to 
them.  The  tirst  question  is  "When  you  were  governor  of  Con- 
necticut and  possessed  the  prerogative  of  pardon,  did  you  con- 
sider''  &i.  tkc,  and  then  follow  the  other  questions. 

Under  the  constitution  of  Connecticut,  the  prerogative  of  pardon 
is  not  conferred  upon  the  governor,  but  is  left  with  tho  legisla- 
ture. I  have,  therefore,  no  official  experience  upon  the  subject, 
and  could  answer  jour  qestions  only  by  expressing  my  own 
])rivate  speculative  opinions,  which  I  presume  you  do  not  desire. 
I  will,  therefore,  only  say — tho  usual  course  is  for  the  party  con- 
victed to  apply  to  the  legislature  for  a  pardon  by  jjctition,  which 
is  referred  to  a  joint  standing  committee  is  investigated  and  re- 
ported upon  to  both  branches,  when  a  pardon  is  granted  or  denied 
upon  a  full  public  consideration  of  I  he  case.  The  bill  nmst  re- 
ceive the  usual  sanction  of  a  law.  This  system,  to  which  we  have 
long  been  accustomed,  has  always  Worked  well.  I  have  heard  no 
objection  to  it. 

I  am,  very  respectfully, 

.   Your  o))ed't  servant, 

ISAAC  TOUCEY. 
Dr.  Francis  Lieker,  and  others. 

Committee,  d'c.  iHc. 

Hartford,  J/ay  5,  18GG. 


t!. 


m 


p 


Letter  from  Hon.  Elisha  Dyer,  of  Rhode  Island. 

;  Providence,  i^e^A  13,  1866. 

Gentlemen — Your  "  circular  letter,"  of  June,  1865,  is  this 
morning  at  hand.  The  constitution  of  this  state  wisely  provides 
that  "  the  governor,  by  and  with  tho   advice  and  consent  of  the 

[Assem.  No.  35.]  25 


386 


APPENDIX. 


senate,  shall  hereafter  exclusively  exercise  the  pardoning  power, 
except  in  cases  of  impeachment,  &c."  This  is  as  it  should  be. 
When  occupying  the  executive  chair  of  this  state,  many  petitions 
for  executive  clemency  were  presented.  Each  application  was 
made  the  subject  of  most  careful,  conscientious  investigations. 
The  prisoner  Avas  personally  and  privately  conferred  with.  The 
circumstances  attending  the  commission  of  crime  ascertained,  the 
antecedents  and  surroundings  of  his  social  position  investigated, 
his  honest  contrition  and  probable  reformation  estimated  ;  and  if 
these  investigations  resulted  satisfactorily,  clemency  was  recom- 
mended. If  not,  the  petition  was  not  brought  to  the  notice  of  the 
senate.  Sometimes,  injudido^isly,  if  not  wrongfully,  personal  in- 
fluence was  attempted  to  secure  the  desired  results.  These  Avere 
promptly  discarded,  and  created  an  adverse  sentiment  against  the 
application. 

If  executive  clemency  is  onl}'^  exercised  after  a  most  patient, 
candid,  responsible,  and  conscientious  consideration,  there  can  be 
no  question  of  the  propriety  of  its  existence.  And  it  is  when 
abused  from  motives  of  personal  favor  or  policy,  or  as  the  result 
of  misplaced  sympathy  or  careless  indiflference,  that  the  continu- 
ance of  its  authority  becomes,  with  propriety,  a  subject  of  anxiety 
and  doubt.  1 

The  recommendation  of  a  convicting  jury  always  seemed  singu- 
lar, except  in  the  acquisition  of  evidence  and  facts  with  which  the 
public  might  not  be  familiar.  I  have  hastily  responded,  as  my 
many  duties  would  allow. 

Very  respectfull}'  yours, 

ELISHA  DYER. 
Messrs.  Francis  Lieber,  "] 
Theo.  W.  Dwioiit,  \  Committee. 

E.  C.  Wines,  J 

Letter  from  Hon.  H.  B.  Anthony,  of  Rhode  Island. 

Washington,  Feb.  22,  1866. 

Dear  Sir — I  have  your  circular  making  certain  inquiries  touch- 
ing the  most  judicious  depository  of  the  pardoning  power  and  the 
results  of  my  experience  as  governor  of  Rhode  Island. 

When  I  held  that  oflBce,  the  pardoning  power  was  vested  in  the 
general  assembly.  An  amendment  to  the  constitution  has  since 
placed  it  in  the  senate  on  the  recommendation  of  the  governor. 
My  views,  therefore,  derive  no  value  from  my  having  held  the 
office  of  governor,  and  I  have  never  given  special  attention  to  the 
subject.  I  regard  a  legislative  body  as  a  very  unfit  depository  of 
the  pardoning  power.  There  are  serious  objections  to  placing  it 
in  the  hands  of  a  single  officer,  especially  of  one  who  is  burdened 
with  other  grave  cares  and  responsibilities.  I  think  the  present 
system  in  Rhode  Island  a  good  one.  A  board  of  pardon  would 
probably  be  still  better;  the  initiative  being  with  the  governor. 


APPENDIX. 


387 


I  have  made  this  brief  reply  on  account  of  my  respect  for  your 
association ;  not  because  I  have  had  the  opportunity  from  experi- 
ence or  study  to  form  any  views  that  are  worthy  of  your  considera- 
tion. 

Very  respectfully, 

Your  obed't  servant, 

H.  B.  ANTHONY. 
Rev.  E.  C.  Wines,  D.  D. 


stcd  in  the 
1  has  since 


i 


388 


APPENDIX. 


m 


II.  A  LETTER  FROM  THE  HON.  CYRUS  MENDENHALL, 
OF  OHIO,  ON  SUNDRY  TOPICS  CONNECTED  WITH  THE 
GENERAL  SUBJECT  OF  PRISON  DISCIPLINE. 

Martin's  Ferry,  Ohio,  December  6,  1866. 
Rev.  E.  C.  Wines,  D.  D.,  New  York— 

Dear  Friend:  Your  lettor  of  the  21st  ult.,  is  received,  and  also 
the  Report,  previously,  for  which  I  did  not  know  whom  to  thank; 
it  is,  indeed,  truly  interesting  and  acceptable.  I  rejoice  that  such 
attention  is  being  turned  to  the  improvement  of  prison  discipliuo 
as  will  probably  have  a  good  practical  result  in  your  state,  and 
ultimately  in  all  the  states.  It  is  a  work  worthy  the  best  ellbrts 
of  the  commission,  and  I  should  be  happy  could  I  l)o  the  moans 
of  any  aid  or  encouragement  to  you  in  it.  It  is  a  subject  in  which 
I  have,  f(U"  many  years  past  felt  a  deep  interest,  but  in  which, 
single-handed,  it  seemed  impossible  to  eftcct  much  change  in  our 
own  state,  from  the  old,  and  in  many  respects,  exceedingly  defec- 
tive character  of  our  system.  Yet,  something  has  been  done  lor 
the  penitentiary  at  Columbus,  and  much  more  might  have  been,  if 
the  management  could  have  been  eftectually  separated  from  the 
evil  influences  of  party  politics;  and  the  services  of  men  of  pure 
motives,  and  as  well  adapted  to  their  position  as  John  A.  Prentice, 
could  always  bo  secured  for  warden,  deputy  warden  and  chaplain. 

I  feel  assured  that  no  system  of  prison  govermnent  can  bo 
devised  which  will  accomplish  the  object  which  all  prison  disci- 
pline should  aim  at, — the  reformation  of  the  criminal, — as  fully  as 
might  otherwise  be  expected,  unless  entrusted  for  its  execution  to 
men  of  sound  minds,  controlled  by  the  genial  influences  of  the 
christian  religion,  and  deeply  impressed  with  the  value,  as  immor- 
tal beings,  of  those  so  unfortunate  as  to  have  become  subjects  for 
the  operation  of  criminal  justice. 

In  reply  to  your  inquiries: 

First.  "  What  is  the  prison  system  of  Ohio?" 

The  prison  system  of  Ohio  cml)races  the  reform  school,  the 
penitentiary  at  Columbus  and  the  county  jails.  The  latter  arc 
almost  solely  left  to  the  charge  of  the  county  sheriffs,  without  any 
control  as  to  internal  regulation  by  the  state.  The  judges  of  the 
court,  at  long  periods,  give  their  "  instructions"  to  the  sherlll's, 
and  but  little  further  attention  is  paid  to  the  matter,  and  those  instruc- 
tions arc  seldon  obeyed.  The  jails  arc  in  their  general  character, 
Avell  described  on  page  15  of  the  report  you  sent  me,  in  speaking 
of  your  own  county  jails.  Since  the  receipt  of  your  letter,  I  had 
occasion  to  visit  St.  Clairsvillo,  our  county  seat,  and  was  kindly 
shown  through  our  jail  by  the  sheriff.     I  found  it  to  contain  three 


APPENDIX. 


389 


cells  and  two  upper  rooms.  (The  populati(  n  of  the  county  is 
about  40,000).  The  cells  were  on  a  level  witli  the  ground — were 
poorly  ventilated,  or  rather  not  ventilated  at  all — were  damp,  and 
not  occupied.  The  rooms  over  them  were  about  15  by  18  feet, 
with  two  small  windows  on  one  side,  and  a  small  hole  in  the  door 
opening  into  a  hall,  on  the  other — one  of  these  rooms  was  unoccu- 
pied, and  in  the  other  were  four  men  and  a  boy  twelve  jears  of 
age — the  men  had  just  been  sentenced  to  the  penitentiary  for 
terms  of  from  one  to  five  years,  and  the  boy  was  to  go  to  the 
reform  school.  They  had  all,  boy  included,  been  confined  in  this 
manner  for  several  raonthsl  or  during  a  long  vacation  of  tiie  court. 
No  other  care  had  been  extended  to  them  than  to  prevent  their 
escape,  and  to  feed  and  keep  them  tolerably  clean. 

The  reform  school  is  under  the  control  of  three  commissioners 
appointed  by  the  Governor.  It  has,  I  am  happy  to  state,  been 
almost  wholly  preserved  from  the  influence  of  party  politics,  and 
is  doubtless  accomplishing,  if  not  all  its  originators  and  friends 
hoped  from  it,  at  least  a  great  amount  of  good.  The  house  of 
refuge,  near  Cincinnati,  is  under  the  exclusive  control  of  the 
county.     The  Ohio  penitentiary  you  know  of. 

Second.  "  Is  there  any  central  authority  in  charge  of  the  whole 
system?" 

There  is  no  "  central  authority"  having  supervision  or  control 
of  the  system,  unless  the  governor  of  the  state  may  be  so  regarded; 
and  he  is  certainly  not  the  authority  you  enquire  after.  Such  an 
officer  or  board,  having  a  supervision  of  the  whole  system,  includ- 
ing the  county  jails — in  character  somewhat  corresponding  to  that 
of  commissioner  of  public  instruction — or,  of  our  common  school 
system,  would.  I  think,  be  a  wise  and  expedient  provision.  Before 
this  officer  or  board,  who  would  have  opportunities  of  investiga- 
tion of  each  case  much  superior  to  the  governor,  all  applications 
for  pardons  might  be  made  to  pass,  with  a  recomme)idation  to  the 
governor  for  final  action. 

Third.  "Is  it  your  opinion  that  you  have  sufficient  number  of 
juvenile  reformatories,  or  should  the  number  in  your  judgment  be 
increased?" 

I  think  we  should  have  at  least  one  other  institution  similar  to 
those  at  Cincinnati  and  Lancaster,  making  large  provision  for 
females,  which  should  be  entirely  separated  from  the  other  sex; 
and  if  the  public  mind  could  be  brought  to  sustain  the  plan,  these 
institutions  should  bo  multiplied,  and  be  made  to  include  the  class 
you  refer  to  as  in  danger  of  falling  into  crime,  which,  in  my 
opinion,  includes  nearly  all  who  are  not  sedulously  cared  for,  and 
not  engaged  regularly  in  some  employment.  But  I  fear  the  idea 
is  so  much  in  advance  of  public  sentiment  on  the  subject,  as  to  be 
regarded  as  chimerical,  and  an  invasion  of  the  license  of  manners 
so  generally  esteemed  as  inalienable  liberty.  But  I  am  sure  that 
a  more  strict  and  severe  supervision  and  control  of  the  habits  of 


390 


APPENDIX. 


early  youth,  would  exert  a  wholesome  influence  upon  the  character 
of  American  morals;  and  that  there  are  unmistakable  indications 
that  sucii  control  is  imperatively  demanded. 

Fonrlh.  "  Is  promiscuous  association  of  prisoners  allowed  in 
your  common  jails,  and  if  so,  what  is  the  cfl'cct?" 

It  is  the  practice  for  prisoners  of  the  same  sex  to  associate  pro- 
miscuously in  our  county  jails,  except  such  as  arc  contincd,  for 
greater  security,  in  cells.  As  to  the  influence  of  such  associations, 
my  own  observation  at  home,  and  a  somewhat  extensive  enquiry 
of  prisoners  in  the  Ohio  penitentiary,  as  to  their  experience, 
would  pronounce  it  decidedly  bad,  and  our  jails,  in  many  cases, 
as  crime  producers  instead  of  crime  repressers.  So  fully  and  con- 
vinced of  this,  that  I  have  often  to  rejoice  when  I  see  a  young 
man,  and  especially  a  boy,  escape  a  confinement  there  when  he 
was  clearly  liable  to  it  by  law. 

Fifth.  "What  changes  do  you  conceive  to  be  needed  in  your 
prison  system  ?" 

The  whole  system  in  Ohio  is  wrong,  and  it  cannot  be  remedied 
without  the  erection  of  a  new  prison  or  an  entire  reconstruction  of 
the  existing  one;  and  this  fact  has  thus  far  prevented  any  attempt 
at  reforms,  except  such  as  are  applicable  to  the  present  arrange- 
ment. Your  Sing  Sing  and  Auburn  prisons  are,  I  believe,  nearly 
similar.  The  solitar}^  or  exclusive  system  of  Pennsylvania  is,  in 
my  opinion,  greatly  preferable  as  a  reformitory  means.  I  do  not 
think  the  objection,  so  long  and  so  persistently  charged  against 
that  system,  of  increased  liability  to  insanity,  is  justly  chargeable 
to  it.  I  am  not  in  possession,  of  any  statistics  of  your  prisons 
touching  this  subject,  but  I  know  that  in  times  past,  from  two  to 
two  and  a  half  percent,  of  the  prisoners  in  our  state  prison  became 
fit  sul)jects  for  a  lunatic  asylum  after  entering  the  prison,  and  that 
under  what  must  be  regarded  as  the  most  favorable  operation  of 
the  congregate  system. 

There  might,  however,  be  changes  from  our  present  practices, 
which  would,  I  think,  be  important  improvements.  I  would  re- 
move everything  having  any  tendency  to  degrade  or  destroy  the 
manhood  of  the  prisoner,  so  far  as  would  bo  consistent  with  his 
safe  keeping.  I  regard  the  parti-colored  dress  as  decidedly  of 
this  character.  The  only  sensible  plea  that  I  have  heard  for  it  is, 
that  it  increased  the  difficulty  of  escape.  For  this  purpose,  v:ith 
a  properly  constructed  prison,  and  due  vigilance,  it  is  unnecessary; 
and  I  would,  on  no  consideration,  expose  him  to  public  gaze.  I 
■yyould  place  evidences  of  good  conduct  upon  his  clothing,  when 
deserved,  after  the  manner  of  the  markings  on  the  sleeves  of  non- 
commissioned oflScers  in  the  army.  I  saw  this  practised  in  the 
Canadian  penitentiary  at  Kingston,  and  was  informed  that  it  was  of 
marked  utility  in  stimulating  manhood  and  self-control;  and  what- 
ever has  this  tendency — whatever  awakens  ambition  to  become 
what  characterizes  a  good  citizen,  is  certainly  desirable.     Men  in 


APPENDIX. 


391 


a  penitentiary  are  not  materially  changed  from  men  outside;  the 
motives  and  inflneuces  which  operate  to  make  and  preserve  men 
good  citizens  in  the  outside  world,  will  have  the  same  effect  inside; 
consequently  every  practice  or  arrangement  in  a  prison  having  a 
contrary  tendency,  is  deleterious,  and  should  be  removed.  I  am 
convin(5ed  that  no  influence  can  he  brought  to  bear  upon  man,  of 
greater  power  or  more  blessed  tendency  than  the  christian  religion 
put  in  practice  towards  him,  and  earnestly  and  perseveringly 
l)laced  before  him.  In  a  prison  properly  regulated,  these  influences 
ought  to  be  brought  to  bear  upon  him  with  peculiar  power,  for 
all  others  should  bo  excluded.  The  prisoner  should  daily  and 
hourly  be  made  to  feel  that  he  is  in  the  hands  of  those  who  have 
only  his  highest  good  at  heart;  that  no  vindictive  or  selfiah  motives 
operated  to  place  him  where  he' is,  or  regulate  the  conduct  of  his 
keepers  toward  him.  The  small  difference  in  profit  (if  any)  aris- 
ing from  his  labor  is  too  dearly  paid  for,  if  at  the  expense  of  char- 
acter, when  he  comes  out,  to  say  nothing  of  his  own  eternal 
interests. 

But  the  question  arises,  where  are  we  to  find  just  the  right  kind 
of  men  to  place  in  charge  of  our  prisoners?  It  can  only  bo  done, 
in  my  opinion,  by  an  otficer  or  board  of  (jfficers  in  charge  of  the 
system,  who  possess  qualifications  of  the  highest  and  purest  char- 
acter that  can  be  found  in  the  state — whose  whole  time  is  devoted 
to  the  business,  as  any  other  state  officer's  time  is  to  his;  and  who 
will  find  out  the  right  men  for  the  necessary  places,  and  then  be 
empowered  to  give  them  such  compensation  as  will  secure  their 
services.  The  number  of  officers  acting  inside  the  prison  should 
be  reduced  as  low  as  possible ;  under  the  congregate  system  they 
are  necessarilv  numerous.  . 

The  stimulus  of  rewards  for  good  conduct,  by  shortening  the 
term  of  sentence,  has  been  eminently  successful  with  us;  and  I 
believe  the  principle  might  be  advantageously  extended;  and  also 
permit  the  power  of  granting  special  rewards  to  be  exercised  at 
discretion  of  some  officer  in  whom  such  power  may  safely  reside. 

Sixth.  "  What  is  found  to  be  the  influence  of  the  contract  sys- 
tem of  convict  labor  in  your  state  ?" 

The  contract  s^^stem,  as  practised  in  our  state  prisons,  I  regard 
as  decidedly  deleterious  in  its  influence.  Under  the  solitary  sys- 
tem, and  properly  regulated,  I  do  not  see  that  it  is  necessarily  so; 
especially  if  such  business  was  carried  on  as  required  but  tittle 
contract  with  contractor  or  his  foreman-. 

I  have  endeavored  to  give  such  replies  to  your  queries  as  very 
pressing  engagements  permitted,  and  shall  be  happy  to  render 
you  such  further  service,  in  your  important  and  interesting  investi- 
gations, as  it  is  in  my  power  to  do,  and  should  be  pleased  to  have 
the  benefit  of  the  labors  of  the  association  through  ycmr  valuable 
reports. 

There  is  another  branch  of  this  sulyect  to  which  I  should,  were 


J 


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^  I 

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111 


t  ■-  i ." 


392 


APPENDIX. 


! 


I  a  member  of  the  legislature,  turn  my  attention — that  is,  a  revi- 
sion of  our  penal  code.  I  am  satisfied  that  in  very  many  cases  the 
sentences  are  too  long  ;  men  without  dangerous  character  are  fre- 
quently found  in  prison  long  after  all  beneficial  eftect  of  confine- 
ment is  at  an  end. 

I  would  gladly  also  see  all  life  sentences  abolished.  A  large 
number  of  the  insane  and  imbecile  are  to  bo  found  amongst  the 
life  prisoners;  evidently  the  effect  of  taking  away  all  hope.  Every 
term  of  prison  confinement  should,  I  think,  have  an  end,  let  that 
end  be  ever  so  distant;  and  then  let  it  be  in  the  power  of  the 
prisoner  to  shorten  it  by  good  conduct  and  unmistakable  evidences 
of  improvement  of  character. 

Very  truly  your  friend, 

CYRUS  MENDENHALL. 


I 


\v 


f\ 


APPENDIX. 


393 


III.  THREE  LETTERS  FROM  MRS.  SARAH  PETER,  ON 
THE  FEMALE  BRANCH  OF  THE  CITY  PRISON 
OF  CINCINNATI. 

Cincinnati,  Oct.  25,  ^65. 

Sir — With  great  pleasure  I  hasten  to  'epiyto  your  letter,  which 
haa  just  reached  me. 

You  ask  me  to  give  you  "  a  full  and  true  history  of  the  origin 
and  progress  of  our  female  prison." 

Since  it  originated,  so  far  as  this  country  is  concerned,  with 
myself  alone,  its  tale  is  brief.  But  as  the  ideas  are  all  borrowed 
from  foreign  lands,  you  will  perhaps  desire  from  me  some  pre- 
liminary observations  respecting  the  prisons  abroad,  and  the 
motives  which  led  me  to  adopt  a  system  which  has  already  proved 
a  blessing  to  this  city. 

Guided  by  the  precept  of  our  divine  Lord,  I  have  for  many 
years  been  a  regular  visitor  of  prisoiis ;  first  in  Philadelphia,  and, 
after  my  removal  to  Cincinnati.  I  also  passed  some  years  in  Euro- 
pean travels,  and  employed  much  time  in  examining  the  modes  of 
administering  the  various  charities  on  the  continent,  desirous  to 
familiarize  mj'^self  with  such  as  might  seem  best  adapted  to  our 
own  country.  How  much  is  thus  to  be  learned,  on  many  import- 
ant subjects,  I  forbear  to  relate,  and  confine  myself,  with  all  due 
brevity,  to  female  prisoners,  who,  poor  things  I  are  often  merely 
victims  to  adverse  circumstances,  which  they  are  unable  to  c:mtrol 
or  resist. 

As  soon  as  the  reconstruction  of  society  began,  after  the  tornado 
of  the  French  revolution,  the  Sisters  of  the  Good  Shepherd  (whose 
order  dates  from  some  two  hundred  and  fifty  years  since,  and 
whose  special  object  is  the  reformation  of  abandoned  women  and 
neglected  little  girls)  recommenced  their  labors  among  female 
convicts.  Their  mother  house,  which  1  have  visited,  is  at  Angers, 
France,  and  contains  usually  some  700  or  800  subjects  of  both 
classes.  One  or  two  other  orders  are  also  employed  in  this  worJ?, 
but  the  "  Good  Shepherds "  are  pre-eminent.  They  have  some 
twelve  or  fifteen  houses  in  this  country  for  penitents — which  they 
manage  entirely  themselves — and  thus,  when  I  sought  for  an  order 
of  sisters  to  take  charge  of  our  prison,  their  work  had  already 
prepared  them  for  it. 

Wherever  sisters  can  be  had,  in  Prussia,  Belgium,  Fiance,  Aus- 
tria, Italy  and  the  British  Islands  (I  speak  from  personal  observa- 
tion), sisters  are  employed  by  the  respective  states  or  municipali- 
ties to  govern  the  female  prisoners  ;  and  every  where,  without  any 
exception  that  I  ever  heard  of,  their  administration  has  been 
marked  with  undisputed  success  and  approbation.  In  most  places, 
as  in  ours,  these  prisons  are  under  the  sole  direction  and  manage- 
ment of  the  sisters,  who  are,  nevertheless,  alioays,  in  every  pointy 
subject  to  the  laws  and  mages  of  the  locality  ;  and  it  is  well  estab- 


IH 


394 


APPENDIX. 


lishod  that  no  "oiHccrs"  can  l)o  found  who  arc  more  carefully 
observant  than  they  of  laws  and  regulations.     No  change  whatever 
was  niado  in  the  regulations  of  our  prison  ;  they  remain  precisely 
as  fornjcrl}'.-    Women,  in  Europe,   convicted  of  hideous  crimes, 
and  sentenced  to  imprisonment  for  life,  yield  entire  submission  to 
the  tirm  but  gentle  rule  of  the  sisters,  and  become  devotedly 
attached  to  Ihein.     The  only  pmiishment  I  ever  knew  inflicted  was 
solitary  contiiu'inent  in  a  small  but  comfortal)le  room,  with  Avork, 
and  a  book  and  bed.     The  sister-,,  on  those  occiisions,  serve  them 
with  their  meals,    and  scarcely  with  an  exception,   the  culprit, 
within  a  few  hours,  melts  into  tears,  ceases  to  be  angry  or  obsti- 
nate, and   beg;-  to  be  restored  to  favor.     Trades  are  introduced 
into   these    prisons,  which   are   not   conunonly  practised  in   the 
iieighborhootl,   so  as  to  avoid  e()ni|)ctition  with  regular  dealers. 
In  Italy,   for  example,  the  liner  French  laces  arc  unknoAvn  as  a 
manufacture,  mitil  introduced  into  the  prisons  ;  and  now  Flanders 
produces  nothing  more  beautiful  than  the  Valenciennes  and  point 
d'applique,  produced  by  women  whose  long  sentences  give  time 
for  the  perfection  of  their  art.     Embroideries  of  the  finest  kinds 
are  made.     Gloves  are  sometimes  the  staple  of  a  prison  ;  others 
have  saddle  housings,  &c.,  ttc,  &c. ;    and  in  some  places,  the  pro- 
ducts of  those  sutHce  to  meet  all   expenses.     Thus,   these  poor 
convicts  become  valuable  producers  to  the  industry  of  the  coun- 
tiy,  and  now  manufactures  enhance  its  wealth  ;  while  in  the  higher 
view  of  the  subject,  which  perhaps  you  and  myself  would  con- 
sider the  niosl  important,   the  careful    instructions  imparted,  and 
the  good  oxaniples  always  before  them,  together  with  the  habits 
of  regtdar  employment,    rescue  many  from  lives  of  crime  and 
immorality,  who  afterwards  become  good  members  of  society, 
though  always  leading  a  life  of  retirement.     All  these /acts  are 
fidhj  ei^tahlhshed  and  itnquestioned. 

Deeply  impressed  by  what  I  had  Avitnessed,  I  i-esolved,  on  my 
last  return  home  in  1858,  to  make  a  strong  efibrt  on  behalf  of  the 
hapless  creatures  in  the  Avretcl.o.^  jjrison  of  this  cit}',  and  addressed 
myself  to  the  mayor  and  members  of  the  council  individually, 
endeavoring  to  persuade  them  of  the  great  advantages  to  be 
gained  by  the  reformation  of  their  then  apparently  incorrigible 
delinquents,  and  also  of  the  financial  economy  to  result  from  the 
measuies  proposed.  But  these  gentlemen,  guided  by  their  own 
bounded  experiences,  Avere  incredulous  of  the  capacity  of  any 
Avomcn  to  control  the  tierce  and  turbulent  cases,  who,  thej' thought, 
could  be  subdued  by  brute  force  aione.  I  admitted  that  the 
class  Avho  usually  are  employed  as  "matrons,"  and  Avho  are  at- 
tracted only  by  the  salary,  Avithout  pretending  to  any  capacity  or 
peculiar  adaptation  to  such  a  charge,  ought  not  to  be  expected  to 
perform  duties  for  Avhich  they  had  no  qualifications;  but  assured 
them  that  the  sisters  Avere  devoted  for  life — Avith  long  and  severe 
preparatory  discipline — with  no  ulterior  vieAA's,"  &c.,  &c.  Confi- 
dent of  the  justice  of  my  position,  a  refusal  was  not  a  discourage- 


APPENDIX. 


395 


mcnt.  At  length  a  more  enlightened  mayor,  Mr.  G.  Wi  Hatch, 
and  a  cily  solicitor,  Mr.  Ware,  warmly  seconded  thr  proposed 
reform.  The  sisters  were  forthwith  installed,  and  entered  the 
honse  which  yon  have  seen  as  the  abode  of  neatness,  order  and 
lucrnfivc  iu(hislry.  Only  three  years  since,  it  was  a  scene  of 
indc.s(Mil)al)le  tilth,  intemperance  and  ohs'  'lity,  where  the 
wretched,  half  naked  inmates  roamed  over  the  dilapidated  place, 
engaged  only  in  the  l)rutal  qnarrels  of  inebriety.  AVifh  the  gooil 
sisters,  a  few  days  only  Avere  required  to  change  th(!  complexion 
of  allair  ^  The  nearly  inhimiamznl  creatures  Avere  washed  and 
clothed,  and  work  was  put  into  their  hands,  Avhich  tiie}-  undertook 
without  (lilliculty.  The  mayor  at  tirst  feared  to  leave  the  sisters 
Avithout  a  police  officer,  in  spite  of  tiieir  declarations  that  it  was 
an  unnecessary  expense;  but  at  the  end  of  a  few  Aveeks  tiie  officer 
Avas  dismissed  as  supernumerary.  The  prisonei's  aie,  of  course, 
brought  from  the  court  room  and  delivered  at  tlie  prison  by  an 
officer.  They  speedily  become  attached  to  the  sisters,  and  it 
Avould  be  scarcely  possible  for  a  revolt  to  occur.  They  sometimes 
grow  angi-y  Avith  each  other,  or  are  idle,  ))Ut  a  little  restraint, 
such  as  1  have  descril)ed,  proves  to  them  the  folly  of  displeasing 
those  Avho  devote  their  lives  to  them.  Most  of  these  unfortunate 
Avomen  have  fallen  through  intemperance,  the  most  difficult  to 
cure  of  all  vices.  Many  of  them  Avould  be  good  servants  but  for 
this  vice,  and  on  the  exj)iration  of  their  sentences,  they  find  pl-.ces 
in  families — but  alas,  the  fatal  thirst  returns!  One  of  the  most 
touching  circumstances  connected  Avith  the  prison,  is  the  very 
frequent  voluntary  return  of  the  poor  Avomcn,  Avho,  earnestly 
desirous  not  to  mortify  the  sisters  by  being  arrested,  knock  at  the 
door  and  beg  to  be  admitted  until  their  thirst  is  again  cooled.  Of 
course  they  are  never  refused,  and  they  go  to  Avork  as  if  in  their 
mother's  house.  As  I  must  be  ver}-  often  at  the  prison,  the  recur- 
rence of  this  fact  has  frequently  brought  tears  into  my  eyes.  A 
fcAV  hours  more  of  exposure,  and  they  avouUI  be  lying,  perhaps, 
in  a  gutter,  and  the  city  would  again  be  charged  Avith  the  expenses 
of  arrest,  trial,  &c.     Wo  must  regard  the  economical  side  also. 

The  result  of  all  this  is,  that  the  large  class  Avho  were  once 
reduced  to  a  state  of  I)rutal  degradation  by  intemperance,  neglect, 
and  ill-treatment,  exist  here  no  longer.  Though  they  are  not 
ahvays  entirely  reformed,  a  certain  degree  of  self-respect  is  restored, 
Avhich  maintains  decency.  The  police  reports  prove  this.  *  *  * 
*  *  *  The  building  noAV  occupied  is  merely  an  old  school 
house,  entirely  unfitted  for  its  present  purposes,  for  there  is  no 
room  for  separate  trades,  &c.;  l)ut  the  municipality  arc  preparing 
to  erect  a  suitable  Avork-houso  as  soon  as  practicable. 

The  stipend  of  the  sisters,  fixed  by  myself,  is  ^100  cash  per 
annum,  a  sum  ojily  sufficient  to  furnish  them  plain  clothing.  Their 
food  is  prepared  in  the  common  kitchen.  Of  course  the  produce 
of  their  Avork,  as  Avell  as  that  of  the  prisoners,  is  placed  in  the 
prison  fund,  and  an  account  is  rendered  every  month.    It  is  hardly 


V 


u 


^; 

r 

3 

i 

m 


!   I 


h 
Wi 


393 


APPENDIX. 


nocessiivy  lo  add  lliat  tlio  prison  is  fiooly  npoii  to  rcligioim 
instruct  (lis  of  .-my  (loiiouiiimlion  who  may  wisli  (o  iinpiut  tiicir 
lessons  uiul  comisols  to  the  prisoners.  As  I  imvo  aJroiidy  roiniuk- 
cil.  the  ii<;uliiti(tiis  of  tlio  prison  are  precisely  tlio  snnu!  asunder 
the  old  regime.  ###«##  j  jvornit  that  my  poor  note 
is  so  Ion*;,  hut  I  have  risked  hein*;  prolix,  lather  than  omit  any 
fact  which  mi<;ht  he  useful  to  you.  Of  course  the  details  of  the 
European  i)risons  might  be  greatly  extended,  hut  all  woidd  tend 
only  to  prove  the  excellence  of  the  system,  and  you  have  perhaps 
enough  for  your  purpose. 

One  Avord  as  to  myself.  Having  u  profound  dislike  for  notoruly, 
I  beg  yoH  irill  not  mention  any  name  needle/^Kly.  I  have  referred 
to  my  own  acts  in  this  comnnmicution,  only  to  he  the  more 
concise,  and  hecuusc  there  is  really  no  one  else  on  whom  I  could 
tix  the  reign  of  our  prison  under  its  present  administration.  My 
hastily  written  note  is  entirely  ut  your  disposal,  so  far  as  it  may 
bo  useful.  And  let  me  add,  that  I  shall  be  most  happy  to  lend 
my  poor  assistance  in  any  enterprise  that  you  may  unilertako  in 
this  direction. 

I  am.  sir,  with  great  respect,  truly  yours, 

Rev.  E.  C.  Wines,  D.  D.  SARAH  PETER. 

»  Cincinnati,  Dec.  10,  1865. 

Dear  Sir — Unwilling  to  deprive  you  of  the  pleasure  of  a  letter 
from  our  excellent  sister  Stanislaus,  I  have  delayed  replying  to 
yours  of  tlie  11th  ult.  The  good  sister  has'wished  and  intended 
to  respond  to  your  enquiries,  but  at  length  she  confesses  that  it 
seems  impossible  to  find  a  leisure  hour  to  collect  her  thoughts  so 
as  to  place  them  in  such  order  as  may  be  useful  to  you.  She 
therefore  begs  me  to  take  her  place. 

And  now,  it  is  so  long  since  I  last  wrote  to  you,  that  intervening 
interuptions  have  nearly  effaced  from  my  memory  Avhat  I  wrote — 
for  I  did  not  attemi)t  to  keep  a  cop}' — I  oidy  remember  giving 
you  a  rapid  sketch  of  Avhat  seemed  most  important.  I  do  not 
know  whether  I  added  my  ccuviction  that  none  but  "sisterhoods  " 
could  eft'cct  the  results  which  are  every whei'c  apparent  in  their 
work.  The  religious  principle  lies  at  the  bottom  of  evei-ything 
they  do,  and  their  training,  based  upon  their  faith,  and  built 
by  prayer,  entire  self-abnegation,  and  long  experience,  enables 
them  to  accomplish  what  they  undertake  through  love  for  God 
and  their  neighbor.         *##*#### 

It  would  be  hardly  possible  to  explain  to  you  the  system  of 
management  of  our  sisters.  A  mother  may  be  a  model  of  order, 
yet,  as  among  half  a  dozen  children,  no  two  may  be  of  the  same 
character,  she  modifies  or  changes  her  treatment  accordingly,  and 
all  love  her  alike,  for  they  know  she  loves  them  all  best.  "  Men 
do  not  galiier  grapes  of  thorns,  nor  figs  of  thistleS."  2' heir  sys- 
tem is  shown  in  its  fruits.  We  have,  perhaps,  both  lived  long 
•  enough  to  know  that  paper  laws  and  constitutions  are  easily  viola- 


APPENDIX. 


397 


tod,  when  the  moral  sense  of  a  people  is  deprnvetl ;  and,  that  after 
all,  it  is  the  wi.ie  (idtnini,s(ratioii  of  laws  wiiich  niiikt's  thcni  a 
hlcsHin*;.  y/in  tiien\i  prifion  which  you  .mw  here ,  has  the  identical 
set  of  laws  ir/nch  govern  the  ai^stern  prison. 

It  would  ])v  ratlier  presuniptiious  in  nie  "to  8ii;x<resi  modifica- 
tions or  iniprovitmcnts  in  onr  i)enal  systems,"  as  you  i)ropose. 
My  tliou^'ht  would  he  to  aceept  them  as  tliey  are,  and  pUiee  them 
under  a  hcUcr  whrdniHlnttion.  I  could  not  ask  a  hotter  illustra- 
tion of  this  idea  than  that  which  you  witnessed  here.  The  men's 
prison*  is  cdahorately  and  expensively  huilt,  and  maiuluined  at  a 
great  cost.  It  is  idle,  noisy  dirty,  &c.,  &c.  The  women's  prison 
is  a  sort  of  old  hariaeU,  ill  constructed  for  the  puri>oso  in  all 
respects,  and  in  a  half  ruinous  condition  ;  yet  it  is  the  ahode  of 
order,  cleaidiness,  cheerfulness,  and  productive  industry,  at  the 
smallest  possihie  expense.         ####### 

1  am  icully  desirous  to  forward  the  work  of  makinj^our  prisons 
hetter,  and  would  gladly  second  your  views  so  far  us  1  am  ahle. 
If  you  would  take  the  trouhle  to  ask  mo  such  f{U(>st  ions  as  may 
reach  the  point  you  aim  at,  I  will  endeavor  to  reply  more  clearly 
than  in  the  "  hit  or  miss"  manner  of  this  present  note.  Sister 
Stanislaus  desires  to  present  you  her  compliments. 

I  am,  with  great  respect,  yours,        SAKAII  PETER. 

To  Dk.  AYinrs:  CiNciNNA-rr,  Jan.  8M,  1860. 

Dear  Sir — It  affords  me  much  pleasure  to  reply  to  your  inter- 
rogatories, and  /  1)ey  you  iviU  have  no  sorujAes  in  ankiny  me  any 
que.sli(tu  hy  wiiich  out'  common  object,  viz:  the  reformation  of  a 
class  of  nnfortimates,  who,  hy  neglecting  the  grace  of  God,  the 
only  hope  of  our  fallen  race,  have  hecomo  violators  of  the  laws 
may  he  aided.  You  imw  "desire  specitically  to  learn  respecting 
the  management  of  the  admiral)le  prison  of  Sister  Stanislaus,' 
"the  system  of  rewards  and  encouragements  held  out  to  the 
prisoners  to  secure  good  hehaviour,"  &c. 

Will  you  allow  me  to  repeat,  in  the  lirst  place,  what  I  think  I 
mentioned  in  my  last,  i.  e.,  that  the  same  system,  if  pursued  hy 
paid  matrons  or  stewards,  however  Avoi'thy,  would  he  nearly  or 
quite  inoperative  for  moral  reformation,  as  also  ex[)erience  has 
proven?  Pardon  me  for  another  ohservation,  which  I  trust  may 
not  grate  harshly  on  your  ear.  The  reason  of  tJuH  difference  is 
readily  comprehended  by  any  inlelligent  pajn-sl,  hut  it  is  misunder- 
stood hy  protestants,  and  I  therefore  fear  you  may  not  enter  into 
it.  It  IS  not  a  question  of  intellect,  hut  of  psycho k)gy,  and  I  will 
merely  state  the  fact  as  it  exists.  This  being  the  case,  a  system 
which  among  sisterhoods  or  brotherhoods  can  hardly  fail  to  attain 
its  object  (moral  reformation),  must  not  be  expected  to  succeed 
under  a  diflerent  administration.     Nevertheless,  I  will  endeavor  to 

*Mrg.  Peter  undoubtedly  refers  to  the  jail  here,  and  not  to  the  male  department  of  that 
prison. 


!   {I 
t   III 


I 


i 


SOS 


APPENDIX. 


reply  to  your  quostions.  A  great  point,  probably  the  most 
important  in  tho  HUcccHttt'ul  treatment  of  tranogrossoru,  ih,  m  you 
know,  to  bcconio  po8^<l'sse(l  of  their  entire  contitlence.  They  sel- 
dom consider  themselves  as  being  worse  than  other  people,  and 
fancy  they  are  victims.  The  character,  the  i)roud  self  abnega- 
tion of  the  sisters,  who  Invve  given  up  every  worblly  graUtication 
to  devote  themselvoH  to  tho  unfortunates,  and  their  gentle  ways 
gain  at  once  a  spontaneous  contidenco,  often  gratitude,  and  these 
induce  good  will.  Though  each  prisoner  is  entirely  free  in  her 
religion,  motives  of  religious  duty  are  always  held  forth,  and  the 
living  examples  of  piety  before  them  arc  perhaps  tho  most  intlu- 
ential  of  their  instructions.  Sister  Stanislaus  has  read  your  last 
letter,  and  with  her  kind  regards,  she  desires  mo  to  say  that  you 
are  right  in  regard  to  her  giving  nearly  or  quite  25  per  cent,  of 
earnings,  together  with  u  good  substantial  calico  dress,  and  perhaps 
shoes,  after  a  long  sentence  attended  with  good  behavior.  These 
and  lesser  rewards  are  distributed  at  the  discretion  of  sister  S. 
There  is  no  rulo  beyond  her  judgment,  which,  you  may  bo  per- 
suaded, is  ahvays  kind.  She  also  endeavors  to  secure  work,  or 
situations  in  families  on  their  leaving  tho  prison.  This  is  the 
entire  sum  of  matenal  rewards.  You  are  of  course  awaro  of  the 
system  practiced  in  tho  Eastern  Penitentiary  at  Philadelphia,  ant^ 
elsewhere.  But  excellent  as  are  the  motives  of  the  venerable  men 
who  compose  the  controlling  authorities  in  these  prisons,  they  fall 
very  far  short  of  the  intluence  for  good,  which  can  bo  wrought 
under  such  an  administration  as  ours.  Experience  proves  that 
human  laws  and  regulations  arc  but  fragile  barriers  ngainrt  the 
torrent  of  hunnm  passions.  Allow  me  to  repeat,  tho  administra- 
tion of  laAvs  is  of  more  force  than  the  laws  themselves.  Resides 
in  the  sum  of  human  action,  the  heart  is  far  more  powerfully  eflec- 
tive  than  the  head.  This  lesson  is  taught  by  our  Divine  Lord.  If 
A  power  can  be  found  capable  of  coping  with  human  passions,  it 
must  exist  m  jnirijied  affections,  not  by  appeals  to  self-interest,  or 
even  to  the  reasoning  or  intellectual  faculties.  Wo  all  know  this, 
but  law-makers  seem  to  forget  it — pardon  my  prosing.  You  will 
be  glad  to  hear  that  a  work  house  is  to  bo  erected  immediately, 
and  our  worthy  Mayor,  in  giving  this  information  to  sister  S., 
added,  "and  I  beg  you,  to  consider  yourself  and  band  engaged 
to  take  charge  of  the  female  department,  for  if  you  cannot  reform 
these  people,  no  power  on  earth  can  do  it." 


With  great  respect  yours. 


SARAH  PETER. 


P.  S. — In  a  former  note,  I  mentioned  the  result  of  our  work  so 
far,  is,  that  by  the  statement  of  the  police,  the  class  of  hidecus 
intemperate  women,  who  formerly  disgraced  tho  streets,  has  dis- 
appeared. If  they  drink,  they  are  more  decent,  and  mai:y  are 
leading  good  lives  in  respectable  families,  &c.  We  have  no  pub- 
lished statistics.  S.  P. 


APPENDIX. 


899 


IV.  JUVENILE  REFORMATORIES. 

E.  W.  Hutch  respond/}  for  the  state  reform  school  of  (Connecti- 
cut; Geo,  W.  Perkins,  for  the  Chicnjjo  reform  school,  Illinois; 
Goo.  B.  Burrows,  for  the  state  reform  school  of  IMaino;  VV.  R. 
Lincoln,  for  the  Baltimore  house  of  refuge,  Murylanil;  Joseph  A. 
Allen,  for  the  statu  reform  school  of  Massachusetts;  Richard  Mat- 
thews, for  the  nautical  branch  of  the  same;  Rev.  Marcus  Amos,  for 
the  state  industrial  school  for  girls,  of  Massachusetts;  C  B.  Rob- 
inson, for  the  state  reform  school  of  Michigan;  H.  S.  Gleason,  for 
the  St.  Louis  house  of  refuge,  Missouri;  Abijah  Watson,  for  the 
Cincinnati  house  of  refuge,  Ohio;  Jesse  K.  McKeev(>r,  for  the 
eastern  house  of  refuge  (white  department),  Pennsylvania;  J.  Hood 
Laverty,  for  the  colored  department  of  same;  James  M.  Talcott, 
for  the  Providence  reform  school,  Rhode  Island;  and  Moses  Bar- 
rett, for  the  state  reform  school  of  Wisconsin.  Having  once 
stated  the  fact,  it  can  hardly  bo  necessary  to  repeat  the  names  of 
these  gentlemen  in  connection  with  each  answer,  and  they  are 
accordingly  omitted. 

Question  I. 
When  was  your  institution  established  ? 

Answers. 

Connecticut — In  1854. 

Illinois — In  1855. 

Maine — In  1850. 

Maryland — Incorporated  in  1849;  opened  in  1855. 

Massachmetts-r^iaie  reform  school  opened  Nov.  1,  1848;  nau- 
tical branch  established  in  1859;  state  industrial  school  for  girls, 
founded  Aug.  27,  1856. 

Michigan — Opened  September  2,  1856. 

Missouri — Founded  in  1854;  incorporated  in  1856. 

Ohio — Opened  in  1850. 

Pennsylvania — Eastern  house  of  refuge  (white),  in  1826;  col- 
ored, 1850. 

Rhode  Island — In  1850. 

Wisconsin — Incorporated  in  1857  and  completed  in  1860. 

Question  II. 

Was  the  institution  founded  by  the  authorities  of  the  state  or 
city,  or  by  private  benevolence  ? 


400 


APPENDIX. 


Answers. 

Connecticut  —  Partly  by  private  benevolence  ($10,000),  but 
mostly  by  state  funds. 

Illinois — By  the  city  authorities  of  Chicago, 

Maine — By  the  state  authorities. 

Maryland — By  private  benevolence  and  city  of  Baltimore. 

Massachusetts — State  reform  school,  by  the  authorities  of  the 
state,  aided  by  gifts  from  Hon.  Theo.  Lyman,  to  the  amount  of 
$72,500;  nautical  branch  by  the  state;  state  industrial  school  for 
girls,  $20,000  furnished  by  private  Jbcnevolence,  and  $20,000  by 
the  state,  for  the  original  buildings;  two  additional  buildings 
have  since  been  erected  by  shite  appropriation. 

MicJiigan — By  the  authorities  of  the  state. 

Missouri — The  act  of  incorporation  provides  that  the  board  of 
managers  shall  be  appointed  in  the  following  manner:  The  mayor 
of  the  city  is  a  member  ex  officio;  the  city  council  elect  four  from 
their  own  body;  the  mayor  appoints  two  from  the  citizens  at 
large;  the  county  court  of  St.  Louis  appoints  two — total  9. 

Ohio — It  was  founded  under  the  authority  of  the  state,  by  the 
city  of  Cincinnati,  and  by  private  subscription. 

Pennsylvania — White  department,  private  benevolence  and  ap- 
l)ropriatious  from  the  state  legislature  and  city  councils,  were  tho 
means  relied  upon  for  its  establishment.  Colored  department  was 
founded  b}-^  private  benevolence,  legacy,  and  small  appropriations 
by  the  city  and  state. 

Rhode  Island — By  the  city  authorities  of  Providence. 

Wisconsin — By  the  state  authorities. 

Question  III. 
How  are  the  funds  for  its  support  obtained  ? 


An.swers. 

Connecticut. — From  the  state,  from  the  earnings  of  inmates, 
from  use  of  the  farm,  and  from  boarding  pupils. 

Illinois. — B}'  city  tax. 

Maine. — The  funds  are  obtained  by  annual  appropriations  by 
the  state  ;  from  taxes  levied  upon  cities  and  towns  for  subsistence 
and  clothing  ;  from  the  products  of  the  farm,  and  from  the  earn- 
ings of  the  bo3'S. 

Maryland. — They  are  obtained  chiefly  from  the  city  and  state, 
and  from  the  labor  of  inmates. 

Massachuttetts. — For  State  Reform  School,  they  are  obtained 
from  the  state,  interest  on  the  Lyman  and  Mary  Lamb  funds,  and 
from  earnings.  For  the  Nautical  Branch  and  the  Girls'  Industrial 
School,  from  appropriations  by  tho  Legislature. 

Michigan. — It  is  sustained  by  an  appropriation  from  the  state 
treasury,  and  by  the  labor  of  the  boys. 


APPENDIX. 


401 


Msaourt. — ^The  expenses  of  the  institution  are  paid  by  the  city, 
with  the  exception  of  a  comparatively  small  amount  paid  by  the 
county  for  board  of  subjects  committed  by  courts  of  St.  Louis 
county. 

Ohio. — This  institution  is  sustained  by  taxation  upon  the  pro- 
perty of  the  city,  and  incidental  receipts  for  the  labor  of  inmates, 
and  for  the  board  of  inmates  not  otherwise  entitled  to  admission 
to  the  Refuge. 

Pennsylvania. — Both  departments,  from  appropriations  of 
money  by  the  city  and  state,  together  with  the  earnings  of  the 
inmates. 

Rhode  Island. — The  funds  are  derived  from  the  city  authorities. 

Wisconsin. — By  legislative  appropriation,  and  a  tax  of  one  dol- 
lar per  week  for  "  incorrigibles  "  and  "  vagrants,"  imposed  on  the 
several  counties  from  whence  sent. 

Question  FV. 

What  are  the  extent  and  arrangements  of  the  grounds  belong- 
ing to  the  Institution  ? 

Answers. 

Connecticut. — ^The  grounds  consist  of  160  acres. 

Illinois. — ^Twenty-seven  acres  in  extent. 

Maine. — One  hundred  and  sixty  acres. 
/  Maryland. — A  farm  of  fifty  acres. 

Massachusetts.— SiSkte  Reform  School,  a  farm  consisting  of  about 
275  acres  of  ordinary  farm  lands,  divided  into  wood  land,  pastur- 
age, orchards  and  garden.  Nautical  Branch,  one  ship  of  650  tons 
(another  fitting).  The  Girls'  School  has  140  acres,  including  wood 
land,  pasturage  and  tillage,  20  acres  of  which  are  connected  imme- 
diately with  the  buildings. 

Michigan. — There  are  134  acres  of  land  belonging  to  the  school, 
nearly  one  hundred  of  which  are  covered  with  timber  ;  the  other 
thirty-four  acres  arranged  as  per  report,  which  please  see. 

Missouri. — There  are  about  twenty  acres,  three  of  which  are 
enclosed  and  occupied  by  the  buildings  and  play  grounds  for  the 
female  department ;  six  acres  are  used  for  the  buildings  and  play 
grounds  of  the  male  department,  and  the  remaining  eleven  acres 
are  cultivated  as  a  garden  for  fruit  and  vegetables. 

Ohio. — There  are  some  ten  acres  of  ground,  about  half  of  which 
is  surrounded  by  a  stone  wall,  twenty  feet  high,  enclosing  all  the 
buildings  except  the  stable  and  carriage  sheds ;  the  balance,  in 
two  lots,  lies  in  front  of  the  Refuge,  with  the  main  avenue  between 
them. 

Pennsylvania. — The  lot  of  ground  actually  occupied  by  the 
buildings  of  the  House  of  Refuge  (white),  is  bounded  on  the 
north  by  Poplar  street,  on  the  east  by  Twenty-second  street,  on 
the  south  by  Parish  street,  and  on  the  west  by  Twenty-fourth 

[Assem.  No.  35.]  26 


403 


APPENDIX. 


street.  The  outer  walls  form  a  parallelogram  of  685  feet  by  400 
feet.  The  wall  of  the  colored  department  encloses  an  area  of 
nearly  two  acres,  on  which  are  erected  the  buildings.  There  arc 
moderate  sized  play  grounds  and  flower  and  vegetable  gardens. 

Rhode  Island. — There  are  two  and  a  half  acres  belonging  to 
the  institution. 

Wisconsin. — There  are  about  seventy  acres,  of  which  only 
thirty-five  acres  are  suitable  for  cultivati  an,  the  remainder  consist- 
ing of  river,  meadow  and  woods. 

Question  V. 
What  are  the  several  buildings,  their  uses  and  arrangements  ? 

Answers. 

Connecticut. — The  main  building  is  175  feet  long,  and  used  for 
culinary  purposes,  for  the  school,  for  dormitories,  for  the  residence 
of  the  superintendent  and  employes,  and  for  the  chapel;  and  a 
wing,  containing  the  shops,  drying  room,  «fec.,  &c. 

Illinois. — ^There  are  attached  to  this  institution  the  following 
buildings:  1.  A  main  building,  containing  a  reception  room, 
library,  office,  dining  rooms,  clothing  room,  and  school  room,  la|i:i- 
dry,  &c.  2.  Four  family  buildings.  3.  A  dwelling  for  superiu- 
teuQcnt  and  family.  4.  Two  buildings  for  workshops.  5.  A 
building  for  bakery,  kitchen,  and  otncers'  dining  room  and  sleep- 
ing rooms.     6.  A  building  for  store-room. 

Maine. — The  buildings  consist  of  a  main  building  of  brick, 
octagonal  in  form,  74  feet  in  diameter,  including,  in  basement, 
boys'  kitchen,  laundry  and  bathing  room;  in  first  story,  school 
rooms;  in  second  story,  dormitories,  and  in  third  story  chapel  and 
hospital.  Three  wings  extend  from  the  main  building,  one  of 
which  contains  the  officers'  apartments;  the  others,  the  dining 
room,  workshops,  playhouse  and  dormitories. 

Maryland. — Main  building  for  bo^'s.  The  Baltimore  House  of 
Refuge  is  built  of  gneiss  from  quarries  on  the  ground,  with  granite 
door  and  window  dressing,  coping  and  cornice,  and  roof  of  slate. 
Its  architectural  plan  is  simple,  but  extremely  striking  in  its 
proportions,  and  Avholly  devoid  of  anything  gloomy  or  prison-like 
in  its  character.  The  whole  front  is  446  feet,  eight  inches;  but 
this  great  length  is  agrecitbiy  broken  by  the  projections  of  the 
ground  plan  and  the  greater  elevations  of  the  central  and  termi- 
nating buildings.  From  the  front  gateway  to  the  main  entrance  is 
108  feet — the  ground  ascending  so  rapidly  in  that  distance  as  to 
require  to  be  broken  by  three  terraces,  each  of  which  is  reached 
by  a  flight  of  granite  steps.  This  elevation  affiirda,  even  from  the 
windows  of  the  first  or  principal  storj',  a  fine  view,  overlooking 
the  entire  height  of  the  wall  of  enclosure,  and  extending  over  the 
city  and  surrounding  country,  with  the  river  in  the  distance. 

The  main  or  front  centrpi  building,  occupied  by  the  superiu- 


APPENDIX. 


403 


tendent,  with  apartments  for  the  accommodation  of  visitors  and 
the  managers,  is  94  feet  in  length,  by  33  feet  in  depth;  to  this  is 
attached  the  nave.  111  feet  in  length  by  44  feet  in  breadth.  The 
basement  or  ground  floor  of  the  nave  is  entirely  occupied  by  refec- 
tories for  tlie  inmates.  The  first  or  principal  story  is  traversed 
by  a  wide  passage  way,  on  which  open  the  superintendent's  office, 
ware-rooms,  and  rooms  for  the  apothecary  and  principal  assistants. 
The  passage  terminates  in  a  large  room,  with  doors  opening  upon 
the  wings,  and  windows  in  the  circular  end,  thus  giving  a  perfect 
oversight  of  the  dormitories,  as  well  as  of  the  play  grounds  and 
exterior  offices. 

The  second  story  has  bed-rooms  for  the  officials  on  each  side  of 
a  passage  shorter  than  that  in  the  principal  story,  and  leading 
directly  into  the  chapel.  This  is  a  fine,  spacious  hall,  78  feet  long, 
44  feet  wide  and  20  feet  high,  and  lighted  by  nine  largo  pointed 
windows. 

From  the  nave  proceeds,  on  each  side,  a  connecting  passage,  30 
feet  in  length,  with  narrow  stairways  to  each  gallery.  These  are 
only  for  the  use  of  the  officers.  From  these  passages  the  wings 
commence;  the  dormitories  separated  by  central  corridor,  18  feet 


wide.     The  dormitories  are  each  nine  feet 


long, 


nine  feet  high. 


and  six  feet  six  inches  wide,  and  each  is  lighted  by  a  window  our 
feet  by  two  feet  foui  '.  u'h«s,  with  iron  frame  and  sash,  with  small 
diamond  shaped  glai  '•  ese  apartments  are  fire-proof,  having  no 

wood  in  their  const  :.u,  except  the  door,  which  is  of  double 
yellow  pine,  with  a  grated  opening  for  oversight  and  ventilation. 

The  public  kitchens  and  bakery  are  in  a  separate  frame  building, 
70  feet  in  the  rear  of  the  refuge  building  proper,  and  70  feet  long 
by  26  wide.  There  is  a  separate  building  for  girls,  71  feet  wide 
by  110  feet  long,  three  stories  high.  t 

MassachnHettii. — The  buildings  belonging  to  the  State  Reform 
School  are  a  farm  barn,  piggery,  carriage  house,  farmer's  house, 
farm  house  for  family  of  thirty  boys,  Peter's  house  for  family  of 
twenty  four  boys,  ice-house,  garden-tool  house,  cottage  house, 
steam  mill,  gas  house,  boiler  house;  main  building  for  the  officers 
and  congregate  department,  institution  barn,  sheds,  &c.,  &c.  The 
Nautical  Br,  nch  accommodates  its  inmates  in  two  ships.  The  indus- 
trial school  forgirls  hits  four  houses,  accommodating  thirty  girlscach, 
and  containing  school  room,  sewing  room,  dining  room,  kitchen 
and  laundry;  also,  single  sleeping  rooms  for  all  except  ten  of  the 
smaller  girls,  who  occupy  a  common  dormitory,  the  whole  having 
a  home  aspect  and  family  arrangements,  every  house  being  entirely 
distinct  and  separate  from  the  others.  It  hjis  also  a  chapel,  ouffi- 
ciently  commodious  for  all,  a  superintendent's  house  and  a  farmer's 
house. 

Michigan. — The  Michigan  State  Reform  School  is  pleasantly 
situated  on  a  slight  elevation,  at  the  east  end  of  Shiawassee  street, 
about  one  mile  north  of  cast  from  Capitol  Square,  City  of 
Lansing. 


!  I 


404 


APPENDIX. 


A  farm  of  thirty  acres  belongs  to  the  Institution,  four  acres  of 
^h.<ch  are  enclosed  by  a  high  board  fence,  and  the  building  in 
front.  Within  the  enclosure  are  located  the  shops,  and  other 
buildings  belonging  to  the  Institution,  except  the  barn  and  tool- 
h(juse.  Ten  acres  are  under  constant  cultivation,  on  a  portion  of 
which  is  planted  an  orchard  of  two  hundred  and  ninety-two 
thrifty  young  fruit  trees,  apple,  pear,  plum  and  cherry.  The 
remaining  sixteen  acres  are  used  as  pasturage  and  lawn. 

The  yard  in  front  of  the  building,  containing  five  acres,  is 
surrounded  by  a  :ieat  picket  fence,  and  laid  out  in  drives  and  walks, 
and  ornamented  with  tvees  and  shrubs. 

The  grounds  enclofied  by  the  high  fence,  are  devoted  to  the 
pleasure  a):d  comfort  of  the  boys,  on  a  portion  of  which  a  gym- 
nu^ium  )3  erected,  \/hich  adds  mateviaUy  to  their  health  and 
enjoyment. 

The  center  building  of  the  house  proper  fronts  west,  and  is 
forty-eight  feet  wide,  fifty -six  feet  deep,  and  four  stories  high. 
There  are  two  wings,  exteiiding  north  ana  south,  each  ninety-five 
f(!et  long,  thirt^'-three  feet  deep,  and  three  stories  hign,  excepting 
tbfi  towers  at  the  extremities,  which  are  four  stories  high.  On 
the  first  or  ground  floor  of  the  center  building  are  a  kitchen  and 
dining  room  for  the  Superintendent,  a  state-room  and  laundry. 
On  the  second  floor  are  a  reception  room,  parlor,  Superintendent's 
office  and  private  room.  On  the  third  floor  are  rooms  for  the 
officers  and  employes.  On  the  fourth  floor  is  thj  chapel,  suitably 
arrange  1  and  furnished  ft  r  seating  four  hundred  persons. 

On  the  first  floor  of  the  north  wing  are  the  dining-hall  and  wash 
room  for  the  boys.  Adjoining  the  dining-hall,  in  a  small  addition, 
are  the  kitchen,  bakery  and  boiler-room,  the  latter  being  also  used 
as  a  laundry  for  the  boys. 

On  the  second  floor  of  the  north  wing  are  the  hospital,  medi- 
cir  .  room,  a  dormitory,  arranged  for  sleeping  42  of  the  smallest 
boys,  and  bedrooms  for  officers  and  employes.  On  the  first  floor 
of  the  south  wing  are  a  school-room,  seated  for  forty-two  boys,  an 
ironing-room,  and  a  tailor's  shop.  On  the  second  floor  are  a  large 
school-room,  capable  of  seating  one  hundred  and  sixty  boys,  two 
recitation  rooms  and  a  library.  The  upper  floors  of  the  two  wings 
are  arranged  with  dormitories,  and  furnish  separate  sleeping 
apartments  for  one  hundred  and  fifty-two  boys.  AH  the  rooms  in 
the  building  are  warmed  by  means  of  stoves. 

A  brick  shop,  twenty-five  by  eighty  feet,  two  stories  high,  con- 
taining four  rooms,  has  just  l>eeu  erected  in  the  north-east  corner 
of  the  yard,  aflbrding  abundant  room  for  the  employment  of 
eighty  boys;  adjoining  which  is  an  engine  room,  twenty  by  twenty- 
five  feet. 

Missouri. — The  buildings  are  as  follows:  Male  department — 
One  wing  only  remains,  the  other  wing  and  central  building  were 
destroyed  by  fire,  Feb.  14th,  1865.    The  remaining  wing  is  three 


APPENDIX. 


405 


ur  acres  of 


stories  above  the  basement,  which  contains  kitchen,  family  dining 
room,  inmates'  dinivf^'  room,  store-rooms,  &c.  First  story  contains 
Superintendent's  office,  family  room  and  bed  room,  manager's 
room,  family  parlour,  visitors'  room,  knitting  room,  and  school 
room  for  small  boys,  and  tailor's  shop.  Second  story  contains  two 
large  school  rooms  and  one  bed-room  for  teachers.  Third  story 
has  a  dormitory  for  boys,  room  for  the  night  watchman  in  the  dor- 
mitory, and  assistant  superintendent's  bed-room. 

One  two-story  frame  building,  of  temporary  character,  contains, 
on  first  floor,  assistant  superintendent's  office,  small  bath  room 
for  new  comers,  stove  room,  bed-room  for  foreman  of  shoe  shop, 
stock  room,  boys'  clothes  room,  and  four  colls  for  confinement  of 
refractory  inmates.  Second  story  is  used  for  a  shoe  shop,  and  is 
large  enough  to  work  conveniently  40  boys. 

Two  other  one-story  buildings  serve  the  purpose  of  laundry, 
bed-rooms  for  assistants,  &c. 

The  female  department  is  distant  from  male  department  about 
50  rods.  It  consists  of  five  buildings,  arranged  in  two  groups, 
distant  from  each  other  about  four  rods.  The  largest  building  was 
erected  in  1856,  and  is  the  only  one  that  was  erected  for  the  house 
of  refuge,  the  other  buildings  having  been  used  many  years  as  a 
county  poor  house. 

Ohio. — ^The  entire  structure  is  278  feet  front,  five  stories  high, 
and  built  of  stone.  The  miiin  building  is  for  the  use  of  the  officers. 
There  is  a  dormitory  in  che  north  end  for  boys,  with  112  separate 
sleeping  apartments,  in  which  the  inmates  are  locked  up  for  the 
night.  In  the  basement  of  this  end  is  the  bath  room,  58  by  9J 
feet,  with  small  side  rooms  for  undressing.  The  water  for  bathing 
is  warmed  by  steam  to  any  desired  temperature.  The  bath  will 
accommodate  at  one  time  140  boys.  The  dormitory  on  the  south 
side  is  used  for  female  inmates.  It  has  seventy-two  separate  sleep- 
ing apartments;  one  school  room;  two  sewing  rooms;  one  hospital; 
bath  room;  a  laundry;  drying  and  ironing  rooms. 

The  main  building  is  two  stories,  has  three  public  offices,  two 
reception  rooms,  two  officers'  dining  rooms,  and  one  store  room. 
The  upper  stories  are  used  for  the  accommodation  of  the  officers. 
The  hospital  accommodates  fifty-two  patients,  and  connected  with 
it  are  four  bath  rooms  and  a  dispensary. 

In  the  rear  of  main  building,  and  connected  with  it  by  a  covered 
way,  is  a  stone  building,  three  stories  high,  containing  a  chapel, 
sixty  feet  by  sixty-four  feet;  three  school  rooms;  one  dormitory 
for  boys,  four  dining  rooms,  kitchen,  bakerv,  and  bread  room. 
There  is  a  cellar  under  the  whole  building. 

lu  the  rea:  of  chapel  building,  and  connected  with  it  by  a 
coveied  way,  built  of  stone,  is  the  engine  room,  one  story  high, 
built  of  stone,  with  four  boilers  of  fourteen  horse  power,  in  which 
is  generated  steam  sufficient  to  warm  the  entire  buildings. 

Attached  tc  the  engine  room,  on  the  south,  is  a  three  story  stone 
building,  containing  a  storage  room  for  coal  and  wood,  a  carpen- 


406 


APPENDIX. 


!   1,1 


ter's  and  blacksmith's  shop,  three  shops  for  the  manufacture  of 
shoes,  one  shop  for  making  shoes  and  clothing  for  inmates,  ouo 
school  room,  one  dormitory  for  boys,  containing  forty-two  sleep- 
ing rooms,  and  four  cells,  one  covered  play  ground,  water  closet, 
and  accommodations  for  washing. 

On  the  south  side  of  these  dormitories  is  a  one  story  brick 
building  for  the  manufacture  of  gas  for  the  institution,  with  two 
retorts ;  on  the  north  side  is  the  gasometer,  and  on  the  southeast 
corner  of  the  grounds  is  the  ice  house,  30  by  35  feet. 

Pennsylvania — White  Department. — The  buildings  contain  the 
school  rooms,  dining  rooms,  kitchens,  dormitories,  chapel,  reading 
rooms,  oflScers'  apartments,  reception  looms,  offices,  work  shops, 
bathing  rooms,  &c.,  &c.  Colored  Department — In  the  main  build- 
ing there  are  separate  dining  rooms  for  boys  and  girls;  kitchen, 
laundry,  drying  room;  girls'  sewing  room;  matrons^  parlor, 
officers'  dining  room ;  superintendents'  parlor,  dining  room, 
kitchen,  &c. ;  and  superintendent's  and  assistant  superintendent's 
offices  ;  chapel;  infirmaries  for  boys  and  girls ;  girls'  school  room; 
eleven  bed-chambers  for  officers  and  superintendent's  family; 
superintendent's  sitting  room  ;  store  rooms,  closets,  pantries,  &c. 

In  the  north  wing,  there  are  separate  sleeping  rooms  for  eighty 
girls ;  ten  separate  bath  rooms,  and  separate  wash  rooms  for  each 
(A.  &  B.)  division. 

In  the  south  wing,  there  are  separate  sleeping  rooms  for  120 
boys.  The  boys'  school  room  is  a  detached  building,  of  three 
stories,  in  which  there  are  accommodations  for  120  pupils.  In 
the  basement  is  a  fine  pool  for  bathing,  and  all  necessary  conveni- 
ences for  washing.  The  work  shop  is  a  three  and  a  half  storied 
building,  having  sufficient  room  for  159  '^oys. 

Rhode  Island. — A  main  building,  witu  two  wings,  one  for  boys 
and  the  other  for  girls,  used  for  all  the  purposes  of  the  family  and 
school,  except  a  work  shop,  for  which  there  is  a  separate  building, 

Wisconsin. — The  congregrated  plan  was  the  original  one,  and  a 
large  building  was  erected  as  one  of  three,  connected  by  corridor 
extensions.  This  building  is  about  one  hundred  feet  by  sixty — 
three  stories  besides  a  basement.  Another  building  on  the  family 
plan  was  erected  in  1864,  about  thirty  rods  from  the  former,  for 
the  small  boys,  with  dormitories  and  school  room  for  about  forty. 
A  small  building  about  sixty  by  twenty-two,  two  storico,  ,.ith 
three  rooms  for  shops,  with  the  under  part  for  wood  shed. 

QUESXION   VI. 

How  many  inmates  will  the  institution  accommodate  ? 

Answers. 

Connecticut. — Two  hundred  inmates  can  be  accommodated. 
Illinois. — This  institution  can  receive  two  hundred  and  fifty 
inmates. 


APPENDIX. 


407 


Maine. — Can  accommodate  two  hundred  and  forty  pupils. 

Maryland. — ^The  boys'  building  is  calculated  for  three  hundred 
and  fifty — girls,  seventy  five. 

Massachusetts. — State  Reform  School — from  three  hundred  to 
three  hundred  and  twenty-five ;  Nautical  Branch,  three  hundred 
and  fifty  boys,  (two  ships);  Girls'  Industrial  School — the  five 
buildings,  each  containing  thirty,  accommodate  one  hundred  and 

fifty. 

Michigan.. — The  institution  was  originally  designed  to  accom- 
modate  one  hundred  and  fifty-two  boys,  but  there  are  in  the  house 
two  hundred  and  sixty-two. 

Missouri. — The  buildings  of  the  female  department  will  accom- 
modate well  about  one  hundred  inmates ;  those  of  the  male  de- 
partment  about  one  hundred  and  seventy. 

Ohio. — The  buildings  will  accommodate  350  inmates. 

Pennsylvania. — There  are  separate  rooms  in  the  white  depart- 
ment for  432  children — 304  boys  and  128  girls  ;  in  the  colored 
department,  for  198  children — 122  boys  and  76  girls  ;  630  chil- 
dren, in  all,  can  be  comfortably  accommodated. 

Rhode  Island. — 200  inmates  can  be  accommodated. 

Wisconsin. — The  large  building  has  78  rooms  for  ,boys,  and 
about  20  for  girls.  The  family  building  will  accommodate  forty 
boys. 

Question  VII. 

What  was  the  total  cost  of  the  ground  and  buildings  belonging 
to  the  institution  ? 

Answers. 

Connecticut. — ^The  cost  of  grounds  and  buildings  was  $60,000. 

Illinois. — The  grounds  are  worth  $27,000  and  are  owned  by 
the  county ;  the  buildings  are  worth  $46,000  and  are  owned  by 
the  city. 

i»fame.— $82,000. 

Maryland.— Ahowt  $200,000. 

Massachusetts. — As  a  large  portion  of  the  main  building  was 
burned  in  1859,  and  since  rebuilt  only  in  part,  this  question  can- 
not be  answered.  As  appraised  last  year,  it  stands  $89,640. 
Nautical  branch :  Ship  Massachusetts,  $25,000 ;  one  fitting, 
$40,000.     State  industrial  school  for  girls.— About  $62,000. 

Michigan. — About  $70,000. 

Missouri. — The  ground  was  city  common,  and  twenty  acres 
were  valued  at  $40,000.  Total  expense  for  buildings  and  perma- 
nent improvements,  including  fencing,  $78,384. 

Ohio. — The  original  cost  was  $150,000,  to  which  large  additions 
have  been  since  made. 

Pennsylvania. — The  total  cost  of  site,  buildings  and  furniture 
of  this  institution,  including  both  white  and  colored  departments, 
now  used  as  a  house  of  refuge,  was  $348,000. 


408 


APPENDIX. 


Rhode  Island. — The  original  cost  was  $13,000.  More  than 
twice  that  sum  has  since  been  expended  in  alterations,  additions, 
&c.,  &c.;  making  the  entire  cost  not  less  than  $40,000. 

Wisconain. — About  $60,000. 

Question  VIII. 

Is  the  institution  governed  by  a  board  of  managers,  and  if  so, 
how  is  the  said  board  constituted  ? 


w 


Ansmiirs. 

Connecticut. — This  school  is  governed  by  a  board  of  trustees, 
consisting  of  eight  persons,  one  from  each  county,  chosen  by  the 
senate. 

Illinois. — This  institution  is  governed  by  a  board  of  managers, 
consisting  of  seven  members,  the  city  comptroller  being  one  ;  two 
of  the  remaining  six  are  appointed  each  year,  by  the  common 
council. 

Maine. — ^This  school  is  controlled  by  a  board  of  trustees,  con- 
sisting of  five  members,  appointed  by  the  governor. 

Maryland. — This  institution  is  governed  by  a  board  of  mana- 
gers, of  whom  ten  are  chosen  by  the  corporation,  ten  appointed 
by  the  city  government,  and  four  by  the  governor  of  the  state. 

Massachusetts — State  Reform  School. — Is  managed  by  a  board 
of  seven  trustees,  appointed  by  the  governor  and  council.  Nau- 
tical branch  is  under  the  control  of  seven  trustees,  five  appointed 
by  the  governor  and  council,  one  by  the  marine  society,  and  one 
by  the  Boston  board  of  trade.  Industrial  School  for  Girls  is 
governed  by  a  board  of  seven  trustees,  appointed  by  the  governor 
and  council. 

Michigan.— The  school  is  governed  by  a  board  of  control,  con- 
sisting of  three  members,  who  are  appointed  by  the  governor  and 
confirmed  by  the  senate,  and  who  hold  their  offices  six  years.  One 
member  is  appointed  every  two  years. 

Missouri. — By  a  board  of  managers  consisting  of  nine  members, 
the  mayor  of  the  city,  ex-officio,  four  elected  by  the  city  council 
from  their  own  number,  two  chosen  by  the  mayor  from  the  citi- 
zens at  large,  and  two  by  the  county  court  of  St.  Louis  county. 

Ohio. — It  is  governed  by  nine  directors,  who  are  appointed 
as  follows:  Three  by  the  city  council,  two  by  the  Court  of  Com- 
mon Pleas,  two  by  the  Superior  Court  of  Hamilton  county,  and 
two  by  subscribers  to  a  iuiid  for  the  benefit  of  the  refuge;  but 
should  the  subscribers  fail  to  elect  them,  the  other  seven  are  duly 
qualified  to  fill  the  places. 

Pennsylvania. — The  institution  (both  departments)  is  governed 
by  a  board  of  managers,  26  of  whom  are  elected  annually  by  the 
contributors,  three  appointed  the  judges  of  the  Court  of  Common 
Pleas,  and  two  by  the  mayor  of  the  city. 

Rhode  Island. — This  school  is  governed  by  a  board  of  trustees, 


APPENDIX. 


409 


appointed  annually  by  tho  city  council,  ^'hich  consists  of  seven 
members,  one  of  whom  is  the  mayor,  ex-officio. 

Wisconsin. — Governed  by  a  board  of  managers,  consisting  of 
five  members  appointed  by  the  governor,  divided  in  three  classes 
and  holding  their  office  three  years. 


Question  IX. 
What  are  tho  Powers  and  Duties  of  tho  Board  ? 


Answers. 

Connecticut. — They  have  power  to  appoint  all  necessary  officers 
to  have  the  immediate  care  of  the  institution,  and  prescribe  by- 
laws for  the  government  and  i-'gulation  of  the  same;  and  also  to 
discharge  any  inmate  by  indenture,  parole  of  honor  or  otherwise. 

Illinois. — The  board  have  full  power  to  govern  the  school  and 
hold  and  discharge  inmates. 

Maryland. — They  exercise  general  supervision,  authorize  inden- 
tures, discharges,  contracts,  &c. 

Massachusetts. — They  have  the  general  charge  of  the  interests 
of  the  institution.  The}^  appoint  the  officers,  subject  to  the  ap- 
proval of  the  governor  and  council. 

Missouri. — The  powers  of  the  board  are: 

Ist.  To  make  all  needful  contracts  for  said  house  of  refuge. 
2d.  To  make,  alter  and  enforce  all  needful  regulations  for  the 
government  and  control  of  said  house  of  refuge,  its  officers  and 
inmates.  3d.  To  issue  a  writ  directed  to  any  sheriff,  marshal  or 
constable  of  the  State  of  Missouri,  for  the  reception  of  any  fugi- 
tive from  said  house  of  refuge.  4th.  To  make  all  necessary  by- 
laws for  its  government.  6th.  To  employ  and  appoint  such 
officers  as  may  be  needful,  and  to  fix  their  salaries.  6th.  To  ap- 
prentice any  inmate  of  the  house  of  refuge  until  the  time  when 
such  inmates  shall  reach  the  age  of  21  years,  if  a  male,  and  18 
years  if  a  female.  7th.  To  discharge  any  inmate  of  said  house  of 
refuge. 

Ohio. — Under  the  laws  of  the  state,  the  board  have  the  exclu- 
sive control  and  management  of  the  business  of  the  institution. 

Rhode  Island. — The  board  have  general  charge  of  the  institu- 
tion and  see  that  its  affairs  are  conducted  according  to  the  require- 
ments of  the  city  council,  and  of  such  laws  as  have  been  or  shall 
be  made  from  time  to  time  for  its  management. 

Wisconsin. — The  duty  of  the  board  is  to  make  rules  and  regu- 
lations, ordinances  and  by-laws  for  the  management  of  the  school. 
They  have  power  to  bind  out  the  children  at  discretion  with  their 
consent  or  that  of  parents  or  guardians,  and  to  appoint  a  superin- 
tendent and  other  officers. 


410 


APPENDIX. 


1 1 


Question  X. 
Who  compose  the  staff  of  officers  of  the  Institution? 

Answers. 

Connecticut — The  officers  of  the  Institution  are  a  superintendent, 
assistant  superintendent,  treasurer,  pliysiciun  and  chaplain,  assist- 
ed by  various  clergymen  in  Mcridcn. 

Illinois. — Tlie  officers  are  superintendent,  assistant  superintend- 
ent, clerk,  four  teachers,  yard  keeper,  matron  and  the  necessary 
officers  for  work  department. 

Maine. — Superintendent,  assistant  superintendent,  physician, 
matron,  two  teachers,  overseer  of  sewing  room,  laundress,  cook, 
nurse,  overseer  of  chair  shop,  overseer  of  shoe  shop,  two  farmers, 
carpenter,  overseer  of  brick  and  tile  yard,  and  a  man  of  all 
work — 17. 

Maryland. — Superintendent,  four  male  teachers,  three  female 
teachers,  with  baker,  shoemaker,  tailor  and  contractors. 

Massachiiseits. — State  Reform  School. — Superintendent,  assistant 
supermtendent,  teachers,  matron,  overseers  of  the  work  rooms, 
physician,  farmer,  engineer,  carpenter,  &c.  Nautical  Branch. — 
Superintendent,  teacher,  and  first,  second  and  third  officers.  Girls' 
Industrial  School. —  Superintendent  and  chaplain,  five  head 
matrons,  five  assistant  matrons,  and  five  houcekeepers. 

Missouri. — President,  secretary,  superintendent,  matron,  assist- 
ant superintendent,  principal  teacher,  two  assistant  teachers,  over- 
seer of  tailoring  shop,  overseer  of  shoe  shop,  housekeeper,  laun- 
dress, day  patrolman  and  night  watchman.  The  Female  Depart- 
ment is  un^or  the  direction  of  the  matron^  assisted  by  two  teach- 
ers, housekeeper,  seamstress,  cook,  etc.  A  night  watchman  is  on 
duty  all  night  in  this  department  also. 

Ohio. — Superintendent,  secretary,  assistant  superintendent, 
matron,  assistant  matrons,  teachers,  engineer,  gas  maker,  tailor, 
shoemaker,  care-takers,  housekeeper  and  assistant,  laundry  maid 
and  night  watchman. 

Pennsylvania. — White  Department. — Superintendent,  assistant 
superintendent,  four  male  teacheis,  three  female  ttachers,  engi- 
neer, assistant  engineer,  gate-keeper,  coachman,  g.irdener  and 
watchman,  carpenter,  baker,  matron,  assistant  matron,  housekeeper, 
cook  and  janitor.  Colored  Department. — SupcrintCiu'ent,  assist- 
ant superintendent  and  teacher,  gate-keeper,  watchmnn,  matron, 
assistant  matron  and  female  teacher,  cook,  nurse  and  overseer — 
in  all,  ten  officers. 

Wisconsin. — The  superintendent  appoints  all  his  subordinates, 
who  consist  of  matron,  assistant  superintendent,  and  such  number 
of  employes  as  are  necessary. 


411 


If  80,  are  they  kept 


APPENDIX. 

Question  XI. 

Are  children  of  both  sexes  received? 
entirely  separate? 

Answers. 

Connecticut. — Only  males  are  received. 

Jllinoia. — Only  mules  at  present.  Are  abont  ready  to  take 
girlt),  who  will  have  separate  apartments. 

Maine. — Only  males  are  received. 

Maryland. — Both  sexes  are  received  and  kept  separate? 

Maftmchusetts. — Only  boys  are  received  into  the  State  Keform 
School  and  Nautical  Brunch  of  same;  only  girls  in  the  State 
Industrial  School  for  Girls. 

Missouri. — Several  small  boys  are  kept  in  the  female  depart- 
ment. With  that  exception,  the  sexes  are  kept  about  forty  rods 
apart. 

Michigan. — Only  boys. 

Ohio. — Both  sexes.     Kept  entirely  separate. 

Pennsylvania.— rlioih  sexes  are  received  and  are  kept  entirely 
separate,  both  in  white  and  colored  departments. 

llhode  Island. — Both  sexes  are  received  and  kept  separate. 

Wisconsin. — Both  sexes  received  and  kept  separate,  except  in 
school  houses. 

Question  XII. 
Between  what  ages  are  they  admissible? 

Answers. 

Connecticut. — Between  the  ages  of  10  and  16  years. 

Illinois. — From  12  to  16  years  of  age. 

Maine. — Between  3  and  16  years  of  age. 

Maryland. — Boys  from  9  to  16;  girls  from  8  to  12. 

Massachusetts. — State  Reform  School — between  7  and  14  years 
of  age.  Nautical^Branch — between  12  and  18.  Girls'  Industrial, 
—from  7  to  16. 

Michigan. — Between  7  and  16. 

Missouri. — From  2  or  3  to  16. 

Ohio. — Boys  under  16  years,  and  girls  under  14. 

Pennsylvania. — White  department.  The  law  specified  no  limit 
as  to  age.  At  present  inmates  range  from  8  to  19  years  of  age. 
Colored  department — between  9  and  16  years.  A  special  resolu- 
tion of  the  board  is  necessary  to  admit  any  over  16,  and  under  21, 
sent  from  Philadelphia  county.  If  sent  from  other  counties  by 
the  courts,  they  are  received. 

Rhode  Island. — Children  received  from  7  years  old  to  18. 

Wisconsin. — Boys  received  between  8  and  15;  girls  heretofore 
between  7  and  10.  The  ages  of  girls  was  changed  from  10  to  14 
last  winter,  owing  to  want  of  sufficient  accommodations. 


412 


APPBNDIX. 


Question  XIII. 
For  what  causes  may  children  be  received? 

Answers. 

Connecticut. — Children  may  bo  committed  for  any  crime  known 
to  the  law,  and  for  which  punishment  may  bo  jail  or  state  prison. 

Illinois. — In  this  institution,  the  only  commitment  is  for  want 
of  parental  care.  Every  child  deemed  a  fit  Hubjcct  for  the  school, 
is  sent  before  a  commissioner  appointed  by  the  city  for  the  pur- 
pose, who  thoroughly  examines  the  case,  has  power  to  call  wit- 
nesses, Ac,  Ac.  Whatever  may  bo  the  offonce  of  the  boy,  he  iu 
only  committed  for  want  of  proper  parental  care. 

Maine. — Children  may  be  received  for  any  offence,  punishable 
by  imprisonment  not  for  life. 

Mart/land. — Children  may  be  received  for  criminal  offences,  in- 
corrigible and  vicious  conduct  and  vagrancy,  and  as  boarders. 

Masaachmetts. — State  Reform  School  and  Nautical  Branch — for 
•'  any  offonco  which  may  be  punished  by  imprisonment,  other  than 
imprisonment  for  life."  Girls'  Industrial  School-  for  committing 
any  offence  known  to  the  laws  of  this  commonwealth,  punishable 
by  fine  or  imprisonment,  other  than  such  as  may  be  punished  by 
imprisonment  for  life;  aloo  fur  leading  an  idle,  vagrant,  or  vicious 
life,  or  being  found  in  any  street,  highway  or  public  place,  within 
this  commonwealth,  in  circumstances  of  want  and  suffering,  or  ot 
neglect,  exposure,  abandonment,  or  beggary. 

Michigan. — For  all  prison  offences,  except  those  of  which  the 
punishment  according  to  law,  is  imprisonment  for  life. 

Wisconsin. — For  violations  of  state  laws;  for  crimes  such  as 
larceny,  arson,  burglary,  &c.,  and  for  being  found  abandoned,  or 
dangerously  exposed,  or  in  lewd  houses,  or  for  incorrigibility. 

Ohio. — Vagrancy,  incorrigibility,  and  such  crimes  as  are  punish- 
able by  imprisonment  in  the  county  jail  or  the  state  prison. 

Pennsylvania. — Received  for  incorrigible  or  vicious  conduct, 
for  vagrancy,  and  on  complaint  of  parent,  guardian,  or  nearest 
friend. 

Rhode  Island. — For  vagrancy  and  being  disorderly  or  criminal. 

Wisconsin. — For  vagrancy,  incorrigibility,  and  any  crime  or 
misdemeanor. 

Question  XIV. 

"What  authorities  have  power  to  commit  ? 

Answers. 

Connecticut. — All  the  various  courts  in  the  state  have  power  to 
convict  children  to  this  institution. 

Illinois. — Justices  of  the  peace  have  power ;  but  only  on  the 
commissioner's  certificate. 


APPBNDIX. 


^18 


Maine. — Suprotne,  police  and  municipal  courtfi,  trial  juatfoes 
and  ju8ticcs  of  tlio  peace. 

Maryland. — ^They  may  be  conmiitted  by  courts  of  tlio  state  and 
by  magistrates,  and,  when  admitted  as  boarders,  t>y  contract  witll 
parents  or  next  friend. 

MaasachMeth. — State  Reform  ScIjooI  and  Nautical  Branch — 
Justices  of  superior  courts  and  judges  of  probate  courts.  Girls' 
Industrial  School — Judges  of  probate,  and  commissioners  expressly 
appointed  by  the  governor  for  this  purpose. 

Michigan. — All  courts  of  record,  having  criminal  jurisdiction 
and  police  courts  and  justices'  courts  in  the  exercise  of  their  pro- 
per criminal  jurisdiction,  provided  the  commitments  are  approved 
by  the  probate  judge. 

Missouri. — The  criminal  court  of  St.  Louis  county,  the  recorder 
of  the  city  of  St.  Louis,  the  mayor  of  St.  Louis,  any  two  justices 
of  the  peace,  any  two  aldermen,  and  the  board  of  managers,  upon 
the  petition  of  parents  or  legal  guardians,  may  commit  to  this 
refuge. 

Oliio. — Justices  of  the  peace  within  the  county,  mayor  of  the 
city,  judge  of  the  probate  court,  judge  of  the  police  court,  court 
of  common  pleas,  and  superior  court. 

Pennsylvania. — Magistrates  and  courts  of  the  city  and  county 
of  Philadelphia,  the  mayor  and  recorder  of  the  same,  judges  of 
courts  of  common  pleas  of  other  counties,  and  quarter  sessions. 

Rhode  Island. — Any  court  of  justice — or  the  trustees,  where 
parents  or  guardians  pay  the  board. 

Wisconsin. — Courts  and  magistrates  may  commit  them. 

Question  XV. 
Are  they  committed  for  a  specific  time,  or  indefinitely  ? 

Answers. 

Connecticut. — ^They  are  committed  for  a  definite  period  of  time. 

Illinois. — They  are  committed  till  21  years  of  age,  or  till  <^')ey 
become  good  boys. 

Maine. — They  are  committed  during  minority. 

Maryland. — For  an  indefinite  period  ;  but  in  case  of  boarders, 
never  less  than  six  months. 

Massachusetts. — During  minority  in  all. 

Michigan. — During  minority. 

Missouri. — During  minority. 

Ohio. — They  are  committed,  subject  to  the  laws  and  rules  gov- 
erning ihe  institution,  till  of  legal  age. 

Pennsylvania. — Both  departments,  the  law  with  respect  to 
boys,  contemplates  their  commitment  during  minority,  with  power 
to  bind.  Girls  under  16,  are  committed  until  18,  and  those  16 
and  upward,  till  21,  with  power  to  indenture. 


^^fl 

i          M*  ' 

['^■H 

i' 


:       ! 
I       I 


414 


APPENDIX. 


Rhode  Island. — For  not  less  than  two  years,  nor  beyond  min- 
ority. 

Wisconsin. — In  all  cases  during  minority. 

Question  XVI. 
If  indefinitely,  when  does  the  right  of  guardianship  expire  ? 

Answer. 

The  uniform  reply  to  this  question  is  in  substance  :  "  It  expires 
with  minority,  unless  the  governing  board  sooner  grant  an  absolute 
discharge." 

Question  XVII. 

Who  judges  whether  the  child  is  fit  to  leave  the  place  before 
the  time  has  expired,  to  which  tlie  right  of  guardianship  extends  ? 

Answer. 

The  general  response  is:  The  governing  board,  on  the  recom- 
mendation of  the  superintendent. 


Question  XVIII. 
What  are  the  different  modes  of  release  ? 

Answers. 


V.      I. 


Connecticut. — The  modes  of  release  are  :  1st,  expiration  of  sen- 
tence; 2d,  discharge  to  friends;  and  3d,  discharge  on  parole  of 
honor. 

Illinois. — On  good  conduct;  being  21  years  old:  and  sometimes 
discharged  to  the  care  of  parents. 

Maine. — Unconditional  discharge;  and  discharge  upon  trial ;  and 
on  indenture. 

Maryland. — By  discharge  to  parents  or  friends,  and  by  indenture. 

Massachusetts. — State  Reformed  School  and  Nautical  Branch. — 
Pardoned  by  governor;  by  order  of  the  court,  and  by  trustees. 
Girls'  Industrial  School. — Icdentured  till  18;  or  unconditionally 
discharged  at  18;  or  discharged  for  good  rejison  prior  to  that  age. 

Michigan. — By  discharge;  by  leave  of  absence,  and  by  indenture. 

Missouri. — The  power  of  discharging  inmates  who  have  been 
legally  admitted,  resides  only  in  the  board  of  managers.  The  fol- 
lowing courts  of  St.  Louis  county  have  exclusive  jurisdiction  of  ail 
wi'iu  of  hab^jis  corpus  for  the  discharge  of  any  minor  confined  in 
the  house  of  refuge,  to  wit:  Circuit  court,  court  of  common  pleas, 
land  court,  county  court,  and  the  criminal  court  of  St.  Louis 
county,  or  the  judges  of  auv  of  the  said  courts  in  vacation. 

Ohio. — Discharged  by  indenture  ;  to  the  care  of  frieiuls,  and  to 
thoir  own  care,  mostly  upon  the  evidence  of  reform  indicated  by 
a  system  of  merits  and  demerits. 


APPENDIX. 


416 


sometimes 


Pennsylvania. — By  indenture;  return  to  friends,  and  by  order 
of  court  and  examining  judges. 

Rhode  Island. — By  placing  out  at  trades,  with  or  without  in- 
dentures; by  dischargers  reformed;  or  upon  expiration  of  sentence. 

Wisconsin. — 1,  On  trial,  with  "  ticket-of-leave,"  subject  to  be 
recalled  for  misbehavior;  2,  full  discharge  to  the  care  of  parents 
or  guardians.     None  have  ever  been  indentured. 

Question  XIX. 

Is  the  institution  to  be  regarded  in  the  light  of  a  prison  or  a 
school,  or  something  intermediate  between  the  two? 

Answers. 

Connecticut. — It  is  to  be  regarded  as  a  school,  not  as  a  prison. 

Illinois. — As  a  reformatory  home,  where  boys  who  have  been 
neglected  may  be  comfortably  cared  for,  sent  to  school,  and  taught 
in  some  useful  department  of  labor. 

Maine. — It  should  be  considered  as  intermediate,  between  a 
school  and  a  prison. 

Maryland. — As  a  reformatory,  combining  labor  and  instruction. 

Massachusetts. — State  Reformed  School  and  Nautical  Branch. — 
As  JL  school  for  reformation,  and  not  as  a  place  of  punishment. 
State  Industrial  School  for  Girls. — As  a  disciplinary  family  school. 

Michigan. — As  a  school. 

Missouri. — As  a  mantial  labor  school,  where  youth  are  detainexl 
against  their  will  by  authority  of  law. 

Ohio. — As  a  place  of  restraint  and  reformation,  or  a  "  reform 
school." 

Pennsylvania. — The  institution  is  to  bo  simply  regarded  as  a 
school  for  the  cultivation  of  the  moral  and  intellectual  nature  of 
the  pupils.  The  fact  is  impressively  conveyed  to  the  mind  of  each 
inmate,  when  received,  thai  reformation,  wot  punishment,  is  the  one 
object  of  the  institution. 

Rhode  Island. — Prison  is  lost  sight  of  as  far  as  possible,  and  the 
school  feature  is  kept  prominent. 

Wisconsin. — Most  decidedly  as  a  school. 

Question  XX. 

What  is  the  character  of  the  discipline — is  it  that  of  a  prison 
or  otherwise? 

■  '-      '  Answers.      *'         '  ,'' 

Connecticut. — Not  like  a  prison. 

Illinois. — It  is  that  of  a  home — firm,  sympathizing,  kind. 

Maine. — The  discipline  has  some  features  like  that  adopted  in 
prisons;  but  it  is  as  far  removed  from  it  as  the  character  of  the 
inmates  will  allow. 


I  '- 


! 


416 


APPENDIX. 


Maryland. — The  discipline  is  mild,  but  firm;  aifferiig,  as  far  as 
possible,  from  that  of  a  prison. 

Massachusetts. — State  Reform  School. — It  is  intended  to  be  like 
that  of  a  family  school,  not  that  of  a  prison.  Nautical  Branch. — 
The  discipb'ne  is  that  of  a  school.  Girls'  Industrial  School. — ^Tho 
discipline  is  that  of  a  family,  except  that  they  are  confined  to  the 
grounds  of  the  institution. 

Michigan. — It  is  nearly  like  that  of  the  common  schools  of  the 
state. 

Wisconsin. — Essentially  the  same  as  any  well  ordered  school. 

Ohio. — The  discipline  is  that  of  a  reform  school. 

Pennsylvania. — The  discipline  is  of  a  parental  character,  no 
punishment  being  inflicted  but  such  as  might  be  imposed  by  a  wise 
and  judicious  father  upon  his  own  offspring. 

Rhode  Island. — Not  that  of  a  prison. 

Wisconsin. — The  discipline  is  that  of  a  well  regulated  school 
and  family  combined. 


Question  XXI. 
What  are  the  rules  aud  regulations  of  the  place? 

Answers. 


1 


The  almost  uniform  reply  to  this  interrogatory  is  a  reference  to 
the  by-laws  of  the  several  institutions,  which  are  too  voluminous 
for  insertion.  The  general  requirement  in  all  is  obedience,  indus- 
try, and  attention  to  study. 

/  :;^:  ^  - .  ';  Question  XXII.     ■ 

What  are  the  proceedings  of  a  day  ? 

Answers.  • 

Connecticut. — Rise  at  5.30  a.  m.;  make  beds  ;  go  to  the  yard  ; 
then  to  wash-room ;  school-room  ;  singing,  reading  the  scriptures 
and  prayer;  breakfast;  yard;  school  till  9  a.  m.;  then  yard  again; 
work  till  noon  ;  dinner  and  play  till  1  p.  m.;  work  till  4.30  ;  play 
and  supper  till  5.30  p.  m.;  school  till  8  p.  m.;  then  bed. 

Illinois, — The  first  bell  rings  at  5.45  a.  m.,  in  order  that  the 
officers  may  be  on  hand  to  receive  their  different  families  at  the 
ringing  of  the  second  bell  at  6.  The  boys  file  out  of  their  dor- 
mitories, and  proceed  to  their  respective  bath-rooms,  where  fifteen 
minutes  are  occupied  in  attending  to  the  t'^Met.  At  6.15  the  bell 
rings  for  breakfast,  f  u*  which  they  have  half  an  hour.  Then  the 
next  bell  rings  for  school  at  6.45,  when  twenty  minutes  are  occu- 
pied at  the  commencement  for  devotional  exercises,  at  which  every 
officer  and  inmate  is  required  to  attend.  The  boys  remain  two 
hours  in  school,  when  the  bell  rings  for  dismissal  at  8.55.  Fif- 
teen minutes  are  allowed  for  the  different  families  to  wash  aud 


APPENDIX. 


417 


comb.  Bell  rings  at  9.10  a.  m.,  for  work.  All  the  boys  in  school, 
form  in  their  respective  lines,  when  a  short  time  is  occupied  in 
inspecting  the  different  families ;  they  then  march  off'  to  their 
Avork-shops,  keeping  time  to  the  beat  of  the  drum,  in  which  they 
remain  till  the  bell  rings  to  close  work  at  12.10  ;  fifteen  minutes 
to  wash  and  comb  for  dinner.  Tlie  dinner  bell  rings  at  12.25, 
when  again  the  different  families  form  together  in  the  main  yard 
parade  ground,  and  file  off"  to  their  respective  dining  halls.  From 
the  dining  hall  the  boys  pass  to  the  play  ground,  and  amuse  them- 
selves till  1.30  p.  M.,  when  the  bell  rings  to  wash  up  for  work. 
The  bell  for  work-shops  rings  at  1.40,  when  the  boys  again  form 
in  line  and  march  off"  to  work,  occupying  three  hours,  till  the  bell 
rings  for  their  dismissal  at  4.40.     Then  they  prepare  for  -upper, 


for  which  the  bell  rings  at  4.55.  From  supper  they  file  into 
school  room  as  the  bell  rings  at  5.20,  and  continue  their  studies 
for  two  hours,  imtil  the  bell  rings  for  prayers,  when  all  persons 
connected  with  the  institution  assemble  in  school  room.  From 
there  the  different  families  proceed  to  their  respective  dormitories 
for  the  night 

Maine. — Rise  at  5.30  a.  m.  Boys  make  their  beds  and  attend 
to  their  al)lutions;  then  all  assemble  in  the  school  room,  where 
devotional  exercises  are  conducted  by  superintendent ;  breakfast 
at  6.30  ;  school  from  7  to  9  ;  9  to  1?,  work  ;  12  to  1  p.  m.,  dinner 
and  play  ;  1  to  4,  work  ;  4  to  5,  supper  and  play  ;  5  to  7,  school ; 
at  7,  devotional  exercises  ;  recess  ;  miscellaneous  exercises  ;  at  8, 
retire  to  bed.  In  the  warm  months  rise  at  5  a.  m.  School  in 
middle  of  the  day. 

Maryland. — Rise  at  5  a.  m.  in  summer  ;  in  school  from  5.30  to 
7.30 ;  from  7.30  to  8,  breakfast ;  from  8  to  12,  labor  ;  dinner  and 
play,  12  to  1 ;  labor,  1  "to  3  or  3.30  ;  play,  3  or  3.30  to  4  ;  school, 
4  to  6  ;  supper  and  play,  from  6  to  8  or  8.30  ;  after  which  retire. 

Masmchuselts. —  State  Reform  School — These  vary  Avith  the 
season.  At  present  (Oct.  1,  1805),  as  follows  :  From  5.30  to  6, 
rise,  wash,  &c.;  G  to  6.45,  school;  6.45  to  7,  recreation;  7  to 
7.30,  breakfast;  7.30  to  11.30,  work,  excepting  recess;  11.30  to 
12  M.,  recreation  ;  12  to  12.30,  dinner  ;  12.30  to  2.30,  Avork  ;  2.30 
to  3,  recreation  ;  3  to  4.45,  school ;  4.45  to  5,  recreation  ;  5  to 
5.30,  supper;  5.30  to  5.45  recreation  ;  5.45  to  7.15,  school ;  7.15 
to  7.30,  recess  ;  7.30  to  8,  devotional  exercises,  and  then  retire. 
Nautical  Branch — Piped  up  at  5.30  a.  m.;  Avash  ;  breakfast  at  6  ; 
one-half  go  into  school  at  9  a.  m.,  and  remain  there  three  hours 
iu  the  morning,  and  the  same  have  three  hours'  schooling  in  the 
afternoon,  the  others  performing  ship's  duties.  Dinner  at  12. 
Supper,  5  p.  m.  Piped  to  hammocks  half  an  hour  after  sun- 
set. State  Industrial  Girls'  School — Rise  at  a  quarter  l)efore 
6  ;  breakfast ;  attend  prayers  in  chapel  at  half  past  6  (in  summer); 
work  (sewing,  knitting,  braiding  and  housework) ;  recess  at  10  a. 
M.;  Avorktill  dinner;  recess  of  an  hour  and  a  half;  school  from 

[Assem.  No.  35.]  27 


418 


APPENDIX. 


2  to  5  ;  Slipper ;  recess  ;  work 


in  sewing 


room  and  housework 


is  f, 


retire  at  8. 

Middgan — The  proceedings  of  tlie  day  begin  with  the  ringing 
of  the  yard  hell  by  the  watchman,  at  5:30,  a.  m.,  to  awaken  the 
boys,  officers  and  employes.  Fifteen  minutes  is  given  for  the 
boy>j  to  dress  and  make  their  beds,  when  the  bell  is  again  rung, 
summoning  the  officers  who  have  charge  of  the  1  oys'  washing  and 
morning  meal  to  duty,  and  the  boys  to  the  yard. 

Each  boy  is  furnished  with  a  tin  vespel,  which  he  brings  down 
with  him  every  morning  and  places  »jottom  upward  on  a  shelf 
numbered  to  correspond  v/ith  that  of  1'  s  <ssel  and  room.  After  a 
few  moments  necessary  delay,  they  '".  il  i  line  at  the  beating  of 
the  drum  and  march  in  military  ordei'  to  the  bath-room.  This  is 
a  room  35  by  59  feet,  fitted  up  Avlth  water-pipes,  so  that  the  boys 
can  wash  under  running  water  only.  When  they  have  washed 
and  combed,  they  form  in  line  again,  and  march  to  the  dining- 
hall,  where  they  are  seated  at  tables,  eiich  large  enough  for  four- 
teen boys.  Two  of  these  act  as  chiefs  or  captains;  and  are  chosen 
from  the  highest  grade  of  boys,  moralhj,  in  the  school.  They  are 
held  responsible  for  the  good  conduct  of  those  placed  under  their 
care.  WhcJi  all  are  quietly  seated,  each  chief  reports  to  the  officer 
present  the  number  of  boys  at  his  table,  the  number  and  names  of 
the  absentees,  if  any,  and  their  whereabouts  if  known.  Immedi- 
ately following  tiiis,  a  brief  prayer  is  recited  by  the  boys,  after 
which  all  commence  eating.  Twenty  minutes  are  allowed;  when 
the  vvhisilc  calls  to  order,  which  means  folded  arms.  Another 
sound  of  the  whistle  notifies  the  chiefs  that  the  time  has  arnved 
for  the  boys  to  be  in  school.  Each  chief  raps  his  boys  to  a  stMid- 
ing  position,  and  successively  marches  them  to  the  school-room, 
where  they  remain  for  one  hour,  busy  with  their  books.  At  i? 
A.  M.,  the  bell  rings  the  boys  to  the  yard,  for  15  minutes'  recrea- 
tion, after  which  they  go  to  their  work,  some  to  the  shops,  others 
to  the  house  and  farm.  The^'  are  employed  until  12,  m.,  having  a 
recess  at  10:30.  At  12  they  go  (o  the  yard,  form  in  lino  and  pie 
pare  for  dinner,  which  occupies  the  time  until  1,  p.  m.,  as  for  the 
morning  meal.  At  1,  the  boys  go  to  the  shops  and  remain  till  4, 
having  a  recess  of  ten  minutes  at  2:30.  They  assemble  in  the 
yard  at  four  and  play  for  half  an  hour,  when  they  prepare  for 
supper.  At  5,  they  go  to  the  school-room,  where  the  largo  boys 
remain  till  8,  the  small  boys  until  seven  o'clock.  Devotions  are 
held  in  the  school-room  both  morning  and  evening;  and  after 
evening  devotions  they  go  to  their  dormitories. 

The  exercises  of  the  day  are  varied  a  little,  according  to  the 
season,  as  may  be  seen  by  the  time  table  in  the  l)y-laws. 


APPENDIX.  419 

Missouri. — Time  Table  for  Months  of  May,  June,  July  and  August. 

H.    U.  H.    M.  H.  U. 

Night  watchmanwill  call  overseer  of  kitchen 
and  dining  rooms 4:30 

Night  watchman  will  call  superintendent  and 
assistants - 4:45 

Night  watchman  will  have  bell  rung  for  at 
least  three  minutes 5:00 

Boys  rise,  dress,  make  beds,  wash  and  pre- 
pare for  breakfast 5:00  to    5:40  =  0:40 

Clothing  and  general  appearance  of  boys  in- 
spected  by  ass't  superintendent  and  prin- 
cipal teacher 5:40  to    5:50  =  0:10 

Breakfast 5:50  to    6:15  =  0:25 

Recreation 6:15  to    6:30  =  0:15 

Morning  prayers 6:30  to    6:45  =  0:15 

School  (recess  from  7 :45  to  8 :00) 6 :45  to    9 :00  =  2 :15 

Labor 9:00  to  12:00  =  3:00 

(Small  boys  in  pleasant  weather  on  play 
ground,  under  eye  of  female  teacher,  from 
9:00  to  9:30.  In  wet  weather  go  into 
knitting  room.) 

Recess  and  boys  counted  on  line 10:30  to  10:40  =  0:10 

School  for  classes  of  boys  not  necessarily 

employed  at  industrial  pursuits 11:00  to  12:00  =  1:00 

Preparation  for  dinner,  dinner  and  recreation  12:00  to    1:00  =  1:00 

(Writing  classes  for  small  boys  and  those 
not  cini)loyed  in  tailor  shop,  laundry,  or 
on  the  farm,  and  also  for  backward  ones 
employed  in  those  departments,  1:00  to 
to  1:35,  p.  M.:  recess  of  15  minutes  for 
small  boys.) 

Labor  (recess  of  10  minutes  at  3  o'clock, 
small  boys  remain  in  yard  25  minutes,  or 
'till  3:25) l:00to    4:30  =  3:30 

Preparation  for  school 4:30  to    4:45  =  0:15 

School 4:45  to    5:45  =  1:00 

Supper  and  recreation 5:45  to    6:15  =  0:30 

(The  boys  should  bo  seated  in  the  dining- 
room  at  10  minutes  tc  6.  and  should  be 
seated  agairi  in  the  school-room  at  2i;  min- 
utes past  6.) 

School :„.;. ..    6:20to    7:20  =  1:00 

(Singing  school  Monday  and  Thursday  even- 
ings, between  4:45  and  5:45.  The  ass't 
sup't  Avhen  on  the  premises,  will  lead  in 
this  exevcise.) 

Evening  prayers 7:20  to    7:40  =  0:20 

Retire  to  bed 7:40  to    7:50  =  0:10 


'  1   ! 


ir^' 


,   1 


m 


:l 


420 


APPENDIX. 


'^ 


Ohio. — At  5.15,  A.  M.,  first  bell;  at  5.30,  a.  m.,  unlock  dormito- 
ries; from  5.45  to  6,  a.  m.,  recess;  from  G  to  7,  school;  from  7  to 
7.30,  breakfast;  from  7.30  to  8,  recess;  from  8  to  10,  work  in 
shop  and  elsewhere;  from  10  to  10.10,  recess;  from  10.10  to  12, 
M.,  work;  from  12  to  12.30,  p.  m.,  dinner;  from  12.30  to  1,  recess; 
from  1  to  4,  work;  from  4  to  5.  recess;  from  5  to  5.30,  su[)per; 
from  5.30  to  7.30,  school,  clo'iiMg  with  devotions;  at  7.30,  retire 
to  water-closets,  followed  by  a  parade-  and  niiirch  to  sleejjing 
rooms,  where  they  are  locked  in  for  the  night.  At  i),  v.  m.,  liglits 
tm*ned  down — all  quiet. 

Pennm/lvania. — The  inmates  I'iso  at  5  <)'clocl<;  after  washing 
and  combing  their  hair,  repair  to  the  school  rooms,  whore  di^'o- 
tional  exercises  are  hold.  Afterwards,  a  school  session  of  iwo 
hours  commei»ces.  Have  a  recess  of  15  minutes  in  the  yurd,  and 
breakfast  at  7,\.  At  8  go  to  the  work-shops;  have  10  minutes 
during  the  forenoon  for  recreation.  At  12,  m.,  prepare  for  diniior; 
after  dimier  they  sj)end  30  minutes  in  the  yard;-!.  At  1,  i'.  m.,  go 
to  work  again;  have  10  miuules  in  the  yards  diu'ing  the  afternoon. 
At  5  prepare  for  supper:  Ih  minute.s  in  the  yuitls  after  supper. 
At  a  quarter  to  G,  school  st'f  .-ion  for  the  evening  commences.  At 
15  minutes  of  eight,  after  devetiointi  exercises,  they  arc  dismissed 
to  their  dormitories  for  the  night.  ' 

Boys  employed  in  the  .^hop«  aro  generally  tasked,  and  if  done 
before  the  tinio  for  general  disraissal,  they  can  go  to  the  yards  or 
do  overwork  for  which  they  are  paid.  The  smallest  hoys,  not 
employed  in  the  shops,  have  two  additional  school  sessions,  of  an 
hour  and  a  half  each,  both  forenoon  and  afternoon.  Books  from 
the  library  arc  furnished  every  day.  The  girls  are  employed  in 
househoM  duties,  and  have  two  daily  school  sessions  of  two  hours 
each,  witli  .sufficient  time  for  recreation. 

Rhode  Ishrnd. — 5,  a.  m.,  teachers,  overseers  and  matrons,  called; 
5  to  5.10,  inuiiites  rise,  and  arrange  their  beds;  5.10  to  5.15,  pass 
from  halls;  5.  15  to  5.25,  washrooms;  5.25  to  7,  school;  7  to  7.15, 
recess;  7.15  to  7.35,  breakfast;  7.35  to  7.50,  morning  devotions; 
7.50  to  8.  recess:  8  to  10,  workshops;  10  to  10.10,  recess;  10.10 
to  12,  work;  12  to  12.15,  p.m.,  wash-room;  12.15 to  12.40,  dinner; 
12.40  to  1,  recess;  1  to  2.30,  work;  2.30  to  2.40,  recess;  2.40  to 
4,  work;  4  to  4.15,  wash-rooms;  4.15  to  4.35,  supper;  4.35  to 
4.45,  recess;  4.45  to  6.30,  school;  6.30  to  6.45,  recess;  6.45  to  7, 
evening  devotions;  7,  retire  to  bed. 

This  arrangement  of  time  has  continued  the  same  or  nearly  so, 
from  the  opening  of  the  institution,  a  little  more  time  l)eing,  for 
the  past  few  years,  allowed  for  play  and  school;  a  little  Lss  for 
work  and  sleep. 

Wisconsin. — Rise  at  5.30,  a.  m.  ;  breakfast  at  6.30;  devotional 
exercises  at  6.50;  school  at  7;  labor  at  9;  dumer  at  12.30,  v.  m.  ; 
recreation;  school  at  1.30;  labor  at  3.30;  supper  at  6.30;  devo- 
tional exercises  at  7;  recreation;  retire  from  8  to  9;  all  officers 
and  employes  retire  before  10. 


APFENDIX. 


421 


The  bell  rings  at  12  M.  and  6,  p.  m.,  to  close  work  and  prepare  for 
meals.  From  October  Ist  to  April  Ist,  we  rise  at  6,  a.  m.,  and 
close  work  at  5.30 

•  Question  XXIII. 

What  are  the  proceedings  of  a  Sabbath  ? 

I-,-  , 

•  Answers. 

Conn'dicnt. — The  inmates  attend  Sabbath-school  from  half  past 
right  lii'  half  past  nine.  Religious  service  by  superintendent  at 
iialf  pi%  i  ten.     Preaching  at  four,  r.  m. 

llliiunH, — At  7.15,  the  boys  rise  ;  at  7.30,  the  boys  l)reakfast ; 
at  8.00,  \\\Q  boys  attend  prayers ;  at  8.20  to  9.00,  change  shoes 
and  put  on  collars,  having  bathed  and  changed  clothing  Saturday 
nft.'rnooii ;  10.30  to  12  m.,  public  worship  ;  12.15,  v.  m.,  dinner  ; 
1.15  to  2.45,  Sunday-school ;  5.00  to  6.00,  singing  exercise;  6.00 
to  ().30,  prayers  and  good  advice  for  closing  duties  of  day  ;  7.00, 
retire. 

Maine, — Religious  services  in  the  chapel  in  the  morning  ;  Sab- 
bath school  in  the  afternoon.  After  learning  their  Sabbath  school 
lessons,  the  bo}'^!--  are  permitted  to  read  their  library  books  and 
papers,  and  to  converse  with  one  another. 

Mart/land. — At  6,  a.  m.,  rise ;  at  7,  breakfast ;  7  to  9,  dressing 
and  preparing  for  chapel ;  9  J  to  10^.  Sunday-school  with  teachers 
from  the  city  ;  10  J  to  11,  exercise  in  the  yard  ;  11  to  12,  in  school 
rooms  preparing  scriptural  lessons;  12  to  1^,  dinner  and  exercise 
in  play  grounds ;  1^  to  2^,  in  school  rooms  reading  or  studying 
scriptures  ;  2^  to  3,  washing  and  exercise  in  yard ;  3  to  4^,  regu- 
lar religious  services  in  chapel ;  5^  to  7,  supper  and  exercise  in 
play  ground ;  7  to  8,  vocal  music  in  chapel ;  at  8,  retire. 

Massachusetts — State  Reform  School. — From  6  to  6.30,  rise, 
wash,  &c.;  6.30  to  7,  breakfast;  7  to  8,  yard  and  necessary  house 
work  ;  8  to  9,  school  room,  preparing  Sunday  school  lesson,  read- 
ing, &c.;  9  to  10,  Sunday-school;  10  to  10.30,  yard;  10.30  to 
11.30,  schoolroom,  reading,  singing,  &c.;  11.30  to  12,  yard;  12  to 
12.30,  dinner  ;  12.30  to  3,  yard  or  school  room  ;  3  to  4.30,  chapel 
service  ;  4.30  to  5,  yard  ;  5  to  5.30,  supper ;  5.30  to  6.30,  neces- 
sary work  and  yard  ;  6.30  to  8,  general  exercises  in  chapel,  sing- 
ing and  lecitations,  closing  with  devotional  exercises.  Nautical 
Branch. — Episcopal  church  service  at  half  past  10,  a.  m.,  with 
addresses  by  gentlemen  of  different  religious  denominations  ;  Sun- 
day-school in  the  afternoon.  Industrial  School  for  Girls. — The 
inmates  attend  preaching  in  chapel  at  9,  a.  m.,  and  Sabbath  school 
in  chapel  at  3,  p.  m.  The  Sabbath  school  exercises  are  conducted 
by  the  superintendent,  the  lessons  having  been  prepared  pre- 
viously, with  much  care,  under  the  supervision  of  the  teachers.. 
The  exercises  consist  of  a  lesson  in  Mcripture  biography,  each 
family  answering  in  concert,  successively,  and  a  simpler  lesson  in 


A 


|j:i    I  I 


■  .    ^'  'f 


422 


APPENDIX. 


Bihle  history,  in  which  the  superintoiulent  calls  upon  any  member 
of  the  school  to  answer  acpuratcly ;  also,  j'ccitations  of  i)a88agcs 
of  scripture  by  ten  girls  every  Sabbath,  and  general  exercise  from 
one  family  per  Sabbath,  consisting  of  sacred  songs,  recitations  of 
poetry,  and  scripture  texts,  all  tne  exercises  bchig  interspersed 
with  singing.  The  remainder  of  the  day  is  spent  i)y  each  family 
according  to  the  direction  of  its  matron  in  reading,  singing  and 
religious  instruction,  varying  from  time  to  time  as  her  judgment 
maj'  dictate. 

Michigan. — The  Sabbath  is  like  the  week  day,  excepting  there 
is  no  work,  no  play  and  no  day  school.  A  Sunday  school  is  held 
from  9  to  10  a.  m.  The  remainder  of  the  forenoon  is  spent  in 
singing,  reading  and  walking  in  the  yard.  Chapel  exorcises  are 
from  half-past  two  until  four  p.  m.  The  evening  spent  in  reading, 
singing  and  talking  until  seven,  when  the  boys  retire. 

Missouri, — Arrangement  of  time  on  Sundays:  Morning  prayers, 
6:30  to  7  A.  M.;  boys  with  principal  teacher,  7  to  8  a.  m.;  boys 
have  recreation  on  play  ground,  8  to  8:30  a.  m.;  boys  with  assist- 
ant superintendent  in  school  room,  8:30  to  9:30  a.  m.;  boys  walk 
in  the  play  ground,  9:30  to  10  a.  m.;  Sunday-school  for  both  sexes, 
under  the  instruction  of  the  superintendent,  10  to  11:15  a.  m.; 
boys  on  play  ground,  11:15  to  12  a.  m.;  dinner  and  recreation,  12 
to  1  P.  M. ;  in  school  room  with  a  teacher,  1  to  2  p.  m.  ;  recreation 
on  the  play  ground,  2  to  3  P.  m.;  lecture,  3  to  4:15  p.  m.;  recrea- 
tion on  the  play  ground,  4:15  to  5  p.  m.;  supper  and  recreation,  5 
to  5:30  p.  M.;  in  school  room  with  principal  teacher,  5:30  to  6:30 
p.  M.;  evening  prayers,  6:30  to  7  P.  m.;  retire  to  bed  at  7  p.  m. 

Note. — Between  7  and  8  a.  m.  the  boys  are  taught  in  singing. 
Between  8:30  and  9:30  they  listen  to  the  reading  of  some  appro- 
priate book  or  paper.  Between  10  and  11:15  they  rocoivo  instruc- 
tion from  the  Scriptures.  Between  1  and  2  p.  m.  tlicy  listen  to 
readers  in  their  rooms. 

The  female  Sunday-school  at  10  o'clock  is  under  the  supervision 
of  the  matron  in  female  department. 

Ohio. — At  5:45  a.  m.,  first  bell;  at  6  a.  m.,  unlock  dormitories; 
from  6:15  to  6:30  a.  m.,  recess;  from  6:30  to  7:15  a.  m.,  devotions 
and  Sunday-school  exercises;  from  7:15  to  7:45  a.  m.,  breakfast; 
from  7:45  to  9  a.  m.,  recess;  from  9  to  10  a.  m.,  exercises  in  cha- 
pel, consisting  of  singing,  prayer,  reading  the  Scriptures,  a  short, 
app.jpriatc  lecture,  and  oral  instruction;  from  10  to  10:45  a.  m., 
recess,  from  10:45  to  12  m.,  Sunday-school  exercises  in  school  rooms; 
from  12  to  12:30  p.  m.,  dinner;  from  12:30  to  1  p.  m.,  recess;  from 
1  to  2  P.  M.,  in  school  rooms — the  exercises  of  this  session  are  the 
reading  of  interesting  books  to  the  children,  and  oral  instruction; 
from  2  to  2:30  p.  m.,  recess;  from  2:30  to  3:30  p.  m.,  chapel  eror- 
cises,  consisting  of  usual  devotional  exercises,  and  a  sermon  by  the 
chaplain;  from  3:30  to  5  p.  m.,  re(5ess;  from  5  to  5:30  p.  m.,  sup- 


per; from  5:30  to  7  p.  m, 
o'clock,  p.  M.,  devotional 


,  school  exercises,  same  as  1  o'clock;  at  7 
exercises,  a  short  recess  and  march  to 


APPENDIX. 


423 


sleeping  apartments  and  lock-up  for  the  night;  at  S)  p.  m.,  last 
bell. 

Pennslyvania. — On  the  Sabbath  the  inmates  rise  an  hour  later, 
and  after  devotional  exercises,  breakfast.  Sunday-school  from  8:30 
to  9:30;  at  10, religious  services  in  the  chapel  begin.  From  after 
dinner  till  3  o'clock,  the  time  is  occupied  in  reading  library  books. 
At  3,  religious  services  in  the  chapel.  Js  ftcr  supper  the  inmates  are 
instructed  in  singing,  and  after  devotional  exercises,  retire  to  their 
dormitories  an  hour  earlier  than  during  the  week. 

Wisconfiin. — On  the  morning  of  the  'Sabbath,  half  an  hour  is 
usually  spent  in  devotional  exercises,  after  which,  Sunday-school 
papers  are  distributed.  A  special  monitor  is  chosen  by  tlic  boys, 
whose  duty  it  is  to  report  any  conduct  improper  for  the  day.  The  time 
is  occupied  in  reading,  washing  and  dressing  till  half  past  ten,  when 
all  assemble  in  the  schoolroom,  where  the  ordinar}'  religious  ser- 
vices are  conducted.  In  the  afternoon,  at  two  o'clock,  a  Sunday- 
school  is  organized;  most  of  the  school  being  formed  into  classes 
of  five  or  six,  with  teachers.  About  one  hour  and  a  half  is  thus 
occupied,  the  remainder  of  the  time  is  filled  up  with  reading  and 
singing;  the  otficers  and  teachers  often  collecting  the  children  in 
groups,  and  reading  Sunday-school  books  and  papers  to  them. 
The  whole  time  is  appropriated. 

Question  XXIV. 

Have  the  children  committed  to  this  institution  any  right  of  pro- 
tection against  the  decision  of  the  functionaries  who  sent  them 
here,  and  if  so,  what  is  it,  and  is  it  ever  exercised? 


"  '    Answers. 

Connecticut. — By  writ  of  habeas  corpus,  any  boy  can  be  brought 
before  a  court  for  a  rehearing.  Only  two  cases  of  the  kind  have 
occurred  in  eleven  years. 

Illinois. — Only  the  right  of  habeas  corjms.  Recourse  is  not 
unfrequently  had  to  it;  about  thirty  boys  have  been  discharged  in 
this  way  within  a  year. 

Maine. — We  think  they  have  the  same  right  of  protection 
against  the  functionaries  who  sentence  them  here,  as  criminals 
have  against  the  magistrates  who  sentence  them;  but  it  has  never 
been  exercised. 

Maryland. — Their  cases  can  be  brought  before  the  courts  by  writ 
of  habeas  corpus,  and  this  is  sometimes  done. 

Massachusetts. — State  Ref.  School  and  Nautical  Branch — ^Yes, 
such  a  right  exists,  and  is  sometimes  exercised,  but  there  never  has 
been  any  trouble  in  this  State.  Industrial  School  lor  Girls — The 
following  is  an  extract  from  the  statute:  "Any  girl  who  shall  be 
ordered  to  be  committed  to  said  school,  under  the  provisions  ot 
this  act,  may  appeal  from  such  order,  in  the  same  manner  and 
upon  the  same  terms  as  is  now  provided  in  respect  to  appeals  in 


r 


\ 


424 


APPENDIX. 


criminal  cjwcs;  niul  tho  appeal  shall  bo  cnterctl,  tried  ami  finally 
determined  in  the  court  to  which  the  i«amo  shall  bo  made,  in  like 
manner  as  if  it  had  been  comnu  ;;oed  there  originally."  There  has 
never  been  any  such  appeal. 

Mic/iitjon. — No  doubt  the  legality  of  tho  commitment  might  be 
tested  by  haftcas  corpus,  but  I  have  never  known  an  instance 
where  it  has  been  done. 

yiissouri. — Yes,  either  the  children  or  their  parents  may  \c»{ 
the  legality  of  their  cnnmitment  by  habeas  covpm.  No  iinnate 
has  ever  made  such  a  request,  but  tho  right  is  often  exercised  by 
parents  and  guardians. 

Maryland. — They  have  such  right,  and  it  is  sometimes  used. 

Pennst/haiiia. — Every  commitment  of  a  child  sent  here  is  care- 
fully examined  by  a  coumiitteo  of  the  managers,  specially  appointed 
for  this  purpose  ;  their  action  is  then  reviewed  by  tho  entire 
board  ;  and  even  then,  tho  commitment  is  not  absolute  in  its 
character  until  examined  by  one  of  the  judges  of  our  courts.  All 
this  is  done  to  see  that  the  child  is  properly  and  legally  conunited. 
If  after  all  this  the  parent  is  not  satistied,  ho  can  have  the  case 
reviewed  by  writ  of  habciis  corpus.  Tho  right  is  occasionally 
exercised. 

Rhode  Itiland. — They  have,  by  habeas  corpus,  but  tho  right  hns 
been  used  in  only  one  case. 

Wisconsin. — The  writ  of  habeas  corp}is  could  be  granted  upon 
proper  aj)pliiati()n,  but  has  never  been  asked  t\)r.  The  power  to 
pardon  rests  with  tho  Governor,  but  cannot  be  exercised  without 
a  certificate  of  good  behavior  from  the  suporintendi-nt.  This 
power  has  been  exercised  two  or  three  times,  but  always  to  the 
injury  of  the  inmate. 

Question'  XXV. 
Have  tho  children  separate  sleeping  rooms? 

Answehs. 

Connecticut. — The  rooms  are  designed  for  oxw,  but  two  boys 
are  often  put  into  one  room. 

Illinois. — They  have  not;  they  sleep  in  hammocks  in  commou 
dormitories. 

Maine. — They  have  separate  rooms. 

Maryland. — AI)out  two-thirds  have  separate  rooms. 

Mas.wchui^etts. — State  Kef.  School — Not  all  hav(?  sei)arate  sle<>i)- 
ing  rooms,  but  all  have  separate  beds.  Nautical  Branch. — No, 
they  have  not.  Industrial  School  for  (Jirls. — One  dormitory  in 
each  house  accommodates  10;  the  remaining  girls  have  separate 
rooms. 

Michit  m. — 152  have  separate  rooms;  the  remainder  sleep  in 
dormitory  halls,  and  a  large  room  fitted  up  for  the  purpose. 

Missouri. — They  have  not;  they  sleep  in  largo  dormitories. 


APPENDIX. 


426 


Ohio. — Thov  Ijiivo  sopnnito  rooms,  oxoopt  ono  •Hvisi(»u  ot'  Minall 
hoys. 

I*tinini/h'tif»{o. — Tlu\v  Imvo  sopurato  slooniujj  n>onKs. 

J!/io(le  Ishniil. — No.  oxoopt  «l>otif  !U>  of  t l»o  liir^or  jrirls.  Kroni 
two  to  loiir  ooojipv  ouoh  room,  oxoopt  tho  ^ouorul  slt'opiuir  room, 
tor  tho  sinaUor  l»oys,  oooupioti  hy  somo  tiurtytivo  lM)ys.  K.aoh 
ohihl  is  t'liiiiishod  with  a  .><opai'alo  hod. 

)r*.\rf))/.v//j. — Tho  tU'sijin  was  t*)  provi(K>  vsoparato  sh'opinir  rooms 
for  all,  hut  our  orowdod  ooudilioii  ooiupols  us,  ofiou,  to  ))Ut  two 
into  tho  sanio  room,  or  rather  into  tho  sanic  Ital,  iu  tho  hirgor 
roouis  and  halls. 

Ql  .CSTION  XXVI. 

May  thoy  oouuuunioato  with  caoh  othor  during  tho  tlay,  or  ia 
tho  law  i)f  silonoo  ont\)rood  ? 

AN8WK15N. 

Connevd'riif, — Tho  iumatos  airo  togothor  in  tho  yiinis,  and,  of 
courso,  oonnuuuioato. 

Illhiitix. — May  oommunioato  jw  nuu'h  as  thoy  [)loaso,  on  tho 
play  frrouud. 

Maine. — Tho  l>oyv>»  have  unrostrioto*!  oonmuinioation  on  tho  play 
ground. 

M(tn//(ni<l. — Froo  oonununioation  at  play,  is  allowod. 

M(tftfi(ir/iittief(fi. — Stato  Koform  Sdiool. — Thoy  vim  oouuuunioato, 
us  in  any  family  st^hool.  Nautioal  Hianoh.-  -Thoy  may  couuuuui' 
oato;  thoro  is  no  law  of  silonoo.  (Jirl's  hulustrial  Solmol. — Thoy 
commnnioato  as  mond)orH  of  afandly. 

Mi('/ti(f(in. — Wv  tlo  n«>t  onforoo  silonoo  as  in  prisons,  hut  do  not 
cxpoot  thom  to  (!ouununioat(^  during  si'hool  <m'  work  hoins. 

J/is.s<>tii'i. — Thoy  may  oommunioato  frooly  (hirintj  iliv  (iiiic.  allot' 
ted  to  rertitofioii,  with  nu'nd)ors  of  thoir  own  division,  'i'ho  hoys 
aro  soparatod  into  two  divisions,  with  roforonoo  to  tlu>ir  ag«>s;  tho 
young(>r  hoing  plaood  in  ono  division,  and  tho  oldor  iu  auothtM', 
The  law  of  sihMioo  is  onforood,  as  far  as  it  is  (IooiimmI  praclioahlo, 
in  work  rooms,  in  whioh  sovoral  (.v<i//)  10  to  JJO  aro  omployjMJ. 

O/iio. — Tho  imuatos  of  oaoh  division  uuiy  oonuiuinioato  with  oacU 
othor  Avhilo  on  thu  play  ground  only;  hut  ono  ilivisiou  in  not 
allowod  to  oomuumioatt^  with  anothor  division. 

Prnn.si/franio. — Whito — In  i\ui  wvIkk)!  rooms  and  worksJiopH, 
oonvorsation  is  not.  pormittod,  hut  in  tho  yards,  froo  s<ropn  \h  givon 
tluMu,  Mul)joct  to  tho  snporvision  of  tho  otUcor  of  tho  yard,  ('ol- 
orod. — IVopor  conuuunication  is  sdlowod  at  all  linu's. 

Ji/iode  J.sIiukI. — Free  (H>nununioation  during  tho  luMirs  for  rocrou- 
tion,  always  undor  tho  suix'i  vision  of  an  oiKoor. 

Wt,s(;o7mn. — Hoys  and  girls  aro  not  allowo*!  to  conununiuate 
Avith  each  othor,  hut  oaoh  sox  is  porndttt>d  to  communicalu  und 
play  toguthur,  as  in  ordinary  huurding-ychouls. 


i  i 


m 


vf  4 


'    :     Ik 

ft 


42e 


APPENDIX. 


QU RATION   XXVII. 

How  much  of  thoirtimc  do  tho  children  spend  in  school. 

Answers. 

Connecticut. — Four  and  n  half  hours  per  day. 

Illinois. — Four  hours. 

Maine. — Four  hours. 

Maryland. — Four  hours. 

Mamachnsetts, — State  Kcform  School — Four  hours  in  school. 
Nautical  Branch. — Six  hours  in  school  every  other  day.  Indus- 
trial School  tor  Girls. — Three  hours  a  day  in  school. 

Michhjan. — They  are  in  school  five  hours  for  six  months  of  tho 
year;  four  liours  for  three  months,  and  three  hours  for  three 
months. 

Mi/tsow'i. — About  one-half  of  tho  boys  are  occupied  four  hours 
and  a  half,  in  school,  the  other  half,  nix  houm  and  fort t/ -five  min- 
vtes,  per  day.  In  the  fenudo  department,  tho  time  occuj)icd  in 
school  by  the  older  jjirls,  is  about  four  hours  daily;  the  small  girl:^ 
are  in  school  about  five  hours  daily. 

Ohio. — They  are  in  school  on  Sunday,  five  hours,  on  other  days 
three. 

Pennsylvania. — White — Four  hours  each  day  in  school.  Col- 
ored.— Two  hours  a  day. 

Rhode  Island. — About  four  hours  per  day. 

Wisconsin. — In  school  four  hours  daily 

Question  XXVIII. 
What  branches  of  learning  do  they  pursue  ? 

Answers. 

r 

Connecticut. — The  branches  studied  are  spellinnj,  reading,  writ- 
ing, arithmetic,  geography  and  grammar.  A  few  study  algebra 
and  philosophy. 

Illinois. — They  study,  reading,  spelling,  writing,  arithmetic  and 
geography. 

Maine. — Reading,  writing,  geography  and  arithmetic. 

Maryland. — They  learn  orthography,  reading,  penmanship, 
grammar,  arithmetic,  algebra,  philosophy,  music,  both  vocal  aud 
instrumental. 

Ma.'isuchusetts. — They  are  taught  the  common  English  brachcs, 
and  in  the  Nautical  Branch,  navigation  in  addition.  Industrial 
School  for  Girls. — The  girls  study  reading,  spelling,  writing, 
arithmetic,  geography,  and  general  exercises  of  a  miscellaneous 
character. 

Michigan. — Reading,  writing,  arithmetic  and  geography. 

Missouri. — They  are  taught  the  ordinary  English  branches. 


APPENDIX. 


427 


Ohio. — Rending,  writirg,  arithmetic,  geography,  grammar,  Ac. 
Pennfii/lvum'a. — All  the  primary  braiichen  of  an  Engliwli  educa> 
)n. 

Ithode  Island. — They   leurn  the  Hamo  as  in  our  public  ncIiooIm, 
fur  MS  the  capacity  of  the  cliiUlrcn  admits  of  it. 


,y 


tion. 

80  .        .,  

\Visr.f))\mn. — Spelling,  reading,  writing,  arithmetic,  geo- 
grai)liy,  &c. 

Question   XXIX. 

What  progrcs  in  general  is  made  by  them? 

Answers. 

Connecticut. — They  learn  as  rapidly  as  any  class  of  boys. 

lllinoi.H. — Their  progress  equals  that  in  the  public  schools. 

Maine. — They  advance  about  as  far  as  the  pupils  of  our  gram- 
mar schools. 

Maryland. — Variable;  some  make  good  progress,  others  very 
little. 

Matisachmetta. — Their  progress  will  compare  favorably  with 
other  schools.  Industrial  School  for  Girls. — Suflicient  progress 
for  ordinary  intercourse  with  the  world. 

Michigan. — They  are  generally  making  very  fair  progress, 
nearly  the  same  as  in  our  common  schools. 

Misttonri. — Taking  into  consideration  the  fact  that  they  have 
no  time  out  of  the  regular  school  hours  to  prepare  their  lessons, 
the  improvement  made  is  satisfactory. 

Ohio. — I'heir  progress  is,  generally,  very  fair. 

Penn.<tylvania — White. — Progress,  generally,  very  commenda- 
ble. Colored. — With  a  few  exceptions,  they  can  read,  write  and 
cypher  before  leaving  the  institution. 

Wisconsin. — Their  progress  will  compare  favorably  with  most 
common  schools  of  the  same  grade. 

Question  XXX. 

Is  there  a  library,  and  if  so,  how  extensive,  and  what  is  the 
general  character  of  the  books? 

Answers. 

Connecticut. — The  library  contains  about  1,500  volumes,  of  a 
very  miscellaneous  description. 

Illinois. — 500  volumes,  mostly  Sunday-school  books. 

Maine — 800  volumes,  of  miscellaneous  character. 

Maryland. — The  library  contains  about  650  volumes,  'and  is  of 
miscellaneous  character. 

Massachusetts — State  Reform  School. — The  library  consists  of 
1,600  volumes,  of  miscellaneous  character — biography,  history  and 
works  of  fiction,  by  such  authors  as  Irving,  Scott,  Dickens,  &c.; 
also,  books  usually  found  in  Sunday-school  libraries.    Nautical 


r- 


428 


APPENDIX. 


1  a 


Branch. — Library  contains  700  volumes,  adapted  to  children,  boys 
espceiallj'.  Industrial  School  for  Girls. — 1,200  v^olumes,  com- 
prising juvenile,  historical,  moral  and  religious  works. 

Michigan — Library  consists  of  historical,  biographical  and  mis- 
eel  hnieous  Avorks.      [Number  of  volumes  noc  stated.] 

JSIissonri. — The  library  is  very  small,  not  more  than  150  volumes, 
which  were  donated  several  years  ago.  The  books  on  hand  are 
chiefly  biographical. 

Ohio. — There  are  565  books  in  the  library  of  the  female  depart- 
ment, and  585  in  that  of  the  male  department.  They  are  of  a 
moral  and  instructive  character. 

Pennsfjlvania. — White — There  is  a  library  for  both  girls  and 
boys,  numbering  about  2,500  volumes.  The  books  are  such  as  are 
adapted  to  their  intellects — biographies,  histories,  and  moral  and 
ins-ructive  tales,  &c.  Colored — There  is  a  library  containing 
1,200  volunu'S,  of  a  moral  and  religious  character. 

Rhode  Island. — About  1,200  volumes — history,  biography, 
travels,  &e.,  Avith  miscellaneous  works,  selected  with  much  care  to 
meet  the  wants  of  our  children. 

Wisconsin. — Only  a  Sabbath  school  library  of  about  400 
volumes. 

Question  XXXL  \ 

Are  the  children  as  a  general  thing  fond  of  reading,  and  what 
time  do  they  have  for  it? 

Answers. 

Connecticut. — Those  that  can  read  well  love  to  read;  the  others 
do  not. 

Illinois. — A  portion  of  them  are  very  fond  of  reading.  They 
have  their  play-time  and  a  part  of  Saturday  and  Sunday  to  devote 
to  it. 

Maine. — The  boys  manifest  great  interest  in  reading.  Besides 
the  time  they  have  on  the  Sabbath,  they  have  one  hour  every  day 
that  they  can  devote  to  that  employment. 

Marijland. — The}'  are  fond  of  reading.  They  have  time  for  it 
during  play  hours  and  on  the  Sabbath. 

Massachusetts. — State  Reform  School — They  are  very  fond  of 
reading,  and  much  pains  is  taken  to  cultivate  the  hal)it.  In  some 
of  the  work  rooms  reading  aloud  by  the  overseer  is  a  daily  cus- 
tom. The  daily  papers  are  regularly  placed  in  the  work-shopc. 
A  portion  of  Wednesday  and  Saturday  is  set  apart  for  reading,  in 
addition  to  the  time  they  have  on  Sunday.  Nautical  Branch — 
They  generally  like  reading;  they  have  Sunday  afternoons  for  it. 
Girls'  School — Many  of  them  are.  Mornings  and  evenings  it  is 
customary  to  have  some  one  read  aloud  in  the  sewing  room,  for 
the  benetit  of  all.  Those  who  wish  to  do  so,  spend  a  portion  of 
their  hours  for  recreation  in  reading,  and  several  hours  of  the 
Sabbath  arc  also  devoted  to  it. 


lical  nud  mis- 


iig,  and  what 


nof.     Besides 


APPENDIX. 


429 


Michigan, — Many  are  fond  of  reading,  and  some  time  is  given 
to  it  on  Saturday  and  Sunday  evenings. 

Missouri. — They  are.  The  time  allotted  to  recreation  affords  an 
opportunity  to  those  who  are  inclined  to  read.  Lights  are  kept 
burning  in  the  boys'  bed-room  all  night,  and  those  who  are  dis- 
posed to  read  for  an  hour,  between  8  and  9  o'clock,  may  do  so 
under  the  supervision  of  the  night  watchman,  who  remains  in  the 
room  during  the  entire  night. 

Ohio. — They  are  generally  very  fond  of  reading,  and  have 
about  two  hours  a  day  for  it,  which  may  be  increased  one-h  ilf 
hour  by  careful  attention  to  their  work. 

Pennaylvania. — Many  manifest  a  strong  desire  for  reading. 
They  have  time  every  day  to  devote  to  it. 

Rhode  Island. — They  are  fond  of  reading,  and  have  half  an 
hour  e.'ich  day  from  the  school  hours,  or  more  if  lessons  are 
thoroughly  committed;  also  the  school  hour  of  Saturday',  and 
about  two  hours  on  Sunday. 

Wisconsin. — Some  are  fond  of  it,  and  spend  their  play-time  in 
that  way.     Others  read  but  little,  except  on  the  Sabbath. 

Question  XXXII. 
Are  they  all  taught  a  trade? 

Answers. 

The  replies  .'ire  all  substantially  the  same.  It  is  not  an  object 
to  teach  the  children  a  trade;  but  they  all  have  regular  Avork,  and 
are  trained  to  habits  of  industry.  The  girls  are  instructed  in 
household  labor  and  in  plain  sewing.     Some  boys  acquire  a  trade. 

Question  XXXIII.  " 
What  are  the  different  handicrafts  carried  on  in  the  institution  ? 

Answers. 

Connecticut. — Mostly  on  cane  seat  chairs;  about  20  on  the  farm 
and  30  in  the  sewing  shop. 

Illinois. — Shocmaking,  lailoring,  basket-making,  cane  seating 
chairs  and  farming. 

Maine. — Shoeniaking,  chair  seating,  sowing  and  knitting,  farm- 
ing, and  brick  and  tile  making. 

Man/land — Shocmaking,  combing  and  assorting  bristles,  tail- 
oring. i)()x  iiKikinsj,  fiirmiii":  and  gardening. 

M(iss(ir/iH.'<etts. — State  Reform  School:  Chair-seating,  sowing  and 
knitting,  washing,  domestic  worlc,  shoo»naking,  farming  and 
gardening.  Thoy  are  taught  to  be  industrious,  and  prepared  to 
learn  a  trade.  Nauli<al  Branch — Practical  seamanship.  Girls' 
school — Tiu'j  aie  taught  housework,  knitting,  braiding  and  plain 
sewing. 


*?"( 


4S0 


APPENDIX. 


Michigan. — Tailoring,  shocmaking,  matting  and  weaving  chair 
seats,  farming,  gardening,  and  braiding  palm  leaf  hats. 

Missouri. — At  present  shoemaking,  to  a  limited  extent  tailoring, 
and  knitting  stockings  for  the  use  of  the  institution.  The  cook- 
ing, washing,  iioning  &c.,  are  done  by  inmates.  A  limited  num- 
ber are  also  employed  in  gardening. 

Ohio. — All  the  boys,  not  employed  in  performing  the  necessary 
work  of  the  institution,  are  engaged  in  manufacturing  shoes.  The 
females  are  employed  in  the  laundry,  sewing  room,  kitchen, 
knitting  room,  hall  and  chamber  work. 

Pennsylvania. — Brushmaking,  shoemaking,  boxmaking,  chair- 
making,  iilacksmithing,  the  manufacture  of  umbrella  wires,  match 
boxes, -and  shoes  for  the  inmates  of  both  the  white  and  colored 
departments. 

Rhode  Island. — Shoemaking. 


Wisconsin. 


-Shoemaking  and  tailoring. 


Question  XXXIV. 

Is  the  labor  of  the  children  let  out  on  the  contract  principle,  or 
do  they  work  for  the  institution  ? 


Answers. 


\ 


Connecticut. — They  work  for  the  institution;  none  on  contract. 

Illinois. — They  work  for  the  institution. 

Maine. — They  work  for  the  institution. 

Maryland. — About  one-half  are  let  out  on  contract. 

Massachusetts. — The  officers  of  the  institution  have  entire  charge 
of  the  work  and  discipline  of  the  boj's.  Girls'  Industrial  School: 
They  work  for  the  institution,  a  small  portion  of  the  profit  being 
allowed  the  girls,  to  be  spent  at  the  discretion  of  the  matron. 

Michigan. — The  children  work  for  the  institution  or  for  others, 
by  the  piece,  under  the  direction  of  the  officers  of  the  institution. 
We  think  contract  labor  pernicious  to  the  best  interests  of  the 
school. 

Missouri. — They  work  for  the  institution.  In  the  tailor  shop 
work  is  done  for  the  clothing  stores  by  the  piece. 

Ohio. — All  the  boys,  with  the  exception  of  those  doing  work 
for  the  institution,  are  contracted  for  by  a  Cincinnati  firm,  engaged 
in  the  manufacture  of  shoes. 

Pennsylvania. — They  are  hired  at  so  much  a  day  to  contractors. 
As  7^  hours  of  the  day  are  devoted  to  active  labor  in  the  shops, 
and  tliis  portion  of  the  time  constitutes  about  one-half  of  the  days' 
exercises,  it  is  important  that  the  supervision  of  the  boys  should 
be  entrusted  only  to  those  whose  moral  habits  and  kindly  dispo- 
sitions qualify  them  for  so  iraport:int  a  chai'ge. 

The  system  of  labor,  as  at  present  administered,  is  radically 
defective.  The  children  are  hired  to  contractors  at  so  much  iier 
diem,  and  it  is  reasonaule  to  suppose  that  a  pecuniary  advantage 


APPENDIX. 


431 


to  them  is  the  only  motive  for  the  contract.  Those  immediately 
entrusted  with  the  government  of  the  boys  are  generally  but  illy 
qualified  for  so  responsible  a  position.  The  amount  of  labor  they 
exact  is  the  sine  qua  non  of  their  exertions.  If  the  work  be  well 
done  and  a  reasonable  amouutj  of  it,  they  are  satisfied.  These 
seven  and  a  half  hours  of  labor  are  spent  without  one  moral 
lesson  taught  the  boys,  at  least  so  far  as  the  workmen  of  the  shops 
are  concerned. 

With  respect  to  the  enforcement  of  the  discipline,  as  the  over- 
seers act  merely  in  a  monitorial  capacity,  and  are  not  properly 
officers  of  the  institution,  frequent  complaints  on  the  part  of  the 
boys  are  heard,  and  in  many  cases  it  is  difficult  to  determine 
which  is  the  aggrieved  party;  but  as  it  would  be  destructive  to 
discipline,-  unless  in  a  well  attested  case,  to  condemn  the  action  of 
the  overseers,  it  necessarily  follows  that  their  complaints  must 
generally  be  received  as  truthful. 

If  the  labor  of  the  boys  is  profitable  to  those  who  dnploy  them, 
it  certainly  ought  to  be  as  profitable  to  the  institution,  and  so  far 
as  the  mere  profit  is  concerned  ought  to  inure  to  its  benefit,  pro- 
ducing an  important  addition  to  its  receipts,  besides  the  accession 
of  a  number  of  officers,  who  would  not  only  he  serviceable  in  the 
work  shops,  but  in  many  other  i-espocts.  Those  entrusted  with 
the  management  of  the  boys  in  the  shops  would  bo  selected,  not 
merely  with  reference  to  their  mechanical  skill,  but  a  oapactity 
for  imparting  instruction,  a  kindly  disposition,  and  correct  moral 
habits,  would  be  indispensable  qualifications. 

If  a  reformatory  institution  availed  itself  of  th«  entire  profit  of 
the  labor  of  the  boys,  its  receipts  would  be  materially  increased; 
there  would  be  the  enforcement  of  better  discipline  in  the  shops, 
and  the  opportunity  aflbrded  to  those  constantly  with  the  boys  to 
inculcate  wholesome,  moral  truths  connected  with  their  revocations. 

Rhode  Island. — The  labor  of  the  children  is  let  out  on  the  con- 
tract principle. 

Wisconsin. — All  work  for  the  institution  under  the  supervisi  a 
of  our  own  officers. 

Qestion  XXXV. 

Has  the  institution  a  chaplain?  If  so,  how  much  of  his  time  la 
given  to  the  inmates  ? 

Answers. 

There  are  but  two  of  these  reformatories,  which  report  resident 
chaplains — those  of  Ohio  and  Michigan — and  the  latter  of  these 
was  vacant  at  the  time  we  made  our  tour  ol"  inspection.  In  one — 
the  Massachusetts  State  Industrial  School  for  Girls — the  superin- 
tendent. Rev.  Mr.  Ames,  holds,  at  the  same  time,  the  position  of 
chaplain.  In  all  the  others,  religious  services  are  conducted  either 
by  the  supcriutcndents  or  by  clergymen  of  the  place,  in  rotation. 


432 


APPENDIX. 


Question  XXXVI. 

To  wliat  extent  arc  efforts  made  to  cultivate  the  hearts  of  the 
children,  and  to  inculcate  the  principles  of  religion  and  morality? 

Answers. 

Connecticut. — By  "  precept  upon  precept — here  a  little  and 
there  a  little." 

Illinois. — Efforts  are  constantly  made  to  this  end. 

Maryland. — Morning  and  evening  devotional  exercises,  and 
Sabbath-school,  with  teachers  from  the  various  churches  in  the 
city,  and  regular  preaching  in  tlie  afternoon  of  each  Sabbath  by 
clergymen  of  the  city 

Masmichnsetls — State  Reform  School. — As  much  as  can  be  made 
by  precept  and  example. 

I^autical  Branch. — -'We  do  what  we  can."  Girls'  Industrial — 
efforts  arc  made  under  the  present  board  of  officers,  to  a  remark- 
able extent. 

Michigan. — We  labor  daily,  as  opportunity  offers,  while  ming- 
ling with  the  boys,  to  give  advice  with  regard  to  this  life  and  the 
next,  pointing  to  vlie  Bible  as  the  chart  to  be  guided  1)y,  in  con- 
nection with  our  Sal)batli-school  —  and  puplic  worship  every 
Sabbath. 

Missouri. — We  aim  to  secure  the  services  of  pi*)us  men  and 
women  in  every  department  of  the  institution.  The  scrii)lures 
are  read  morning  and  eve  jing,  in  presence  of  all,  offrxn's  and  in- 
mates. Christian  duties  are  inculcated  both  by  precept  and  ex- 
ample, and  every  possible  ^fibrt  is  made  to  secure  the  services  of 
employes  whose  daily  lives  are  in  harmony  with  the  spirit  u^ 
Christianity,  as  exhibited  in  the  New  Testament.  On  the  8iil)I)ath, 
faithful  teachers  endeavor  to  impress  upon  the  heart*)  of  our  ekil- 
dren  the  words  and  the  spirit  of  the  Bible,  or  portions  which  seewa 
to  be  best  adapted  to  the  end  in  view.  -'Line  upon  line  and  pre- 
cept upon  precept''  are  given  in  the  firm  i^elief  that  God  will 
bless  his  own  work  in  the  salvation  of  ihe  8<jnils  committed  to  our 
care. 

Ohio. — It  iH  a  fixed  purj>ose  to  instil  into  the  minds  f/f  the 
children  moral  .Mid  re'igious  sentiments,  and  to  keep  them  under 
these  influences  as  far  as  p<»8sibl*'. 

Penns;/lvmiia. — Tli»'  enti-ro  discipliiM*  is  intended  to  impress 
itself  upon  th«'  hearts  o*'  tlw  children  and  teach  them  the  princi- 
ples of  religion  and  mo>rality.  Special  eftbrts  arise  from  Sal»bath- 
school  iiwtructk**!,  cha|j<»l  exercises,  and  private  conversations. 

Wisco^iMin.—Movwhvy  and  evenin'^ir  prayers  are  ol)served  and 
special,  po!»«fced  address(^s  are  ofttm  mad*,  enforcing  particular 
truths.  Grf-»t  pains  are  taken  to  illustrate  and  enforce  the  truths 
of  Christianity. 

Question  XXXVJ-I. 

HoAv  ranch  importance  is  atta<4»*>d  to  efforts  of  tkws  kind  ? 


APPENDIX. 

Answers. 


438 


All  respond  in  sub.stiintially  the  same  terms.  The  following 
arc  some  of  the  sentences  contained  in  the  replies  received: 

"It  is  considered  of  the  highest  importance,  for  unless  the  heart 
is  reached,  nothing  is  accomplished." 

"  The  greatest  imi^ortance  is  attached  to  the  sowing  of  the  truth 
and  impressing  it  upon  the  heart  in  a  manner  adapted  to  the 
capacity  and  understanding  of  a  child." 

'•Judicious  effort  in  moral  and  religious  culture  cannot  bo 
over-estimated." 

"  We  regard  it  as  of  the  highest  importance,  believing  no  reform 
to  be  thorough  and  permanent  without  this." 

"  Such  efforts,  combined  with  labor,  we  think  the  true  helps  to 
reform." 

"It  is  our  great  piarpose  to  reform  the  children  by  cultivating 
their  moral  and  religious  sentiments,  and  urging  correct  deport- 
ment flora  principle,  rather  than  by  exacting  it  on  compuJHiou." 

"The  daily  administrati(m  of  the  discipline  and  special  efforts 
to  arouse  the  children  to  a  sense  of  their  duties  and  obligations  as 
responsible  and  iimnortal  beings,  must  afford  the  only  sure  hope 
of  their  becoming  rirtnous." 

"  Great  importance  is  attached  to  the  mental  and  moral  culture 
of  the  inmate*!;  it  is  the  groundwork  of  rcfoi-mation;  we  seek  to 
awaken  the  intellect  as  the  only  avenue  to  the  conscienc<»;  to  sub- 
due vicious  propensities  by  the  careful  cultivation  of  virtuous 
principles." 

Question  XXXVIII. 

When  a  youlh  is  received  into  the  establishment,  arc  any,  and 
if  any,  what  iiistructions  given  him  as  to  his  future  conduct? 

Answers  . 

Cnnnectf'cnt. — No  special  instructions  are  given. 

Illinois. — He  is  told  that  whatever  his  former  life  may  have 
been,  it  is  past;  but  from  the  tirst  he  will  establish  his  character 
with  us  by  his  behavior  each  day,  and  we  give  him  the  utmost 
•onfidence  so  long  as  he  proves  worthy  of  it. 

Manjlaud. — He  is  made  to  understand,  as  far  as  possible,  that 
wo  are  his  friends,  who  are  desirous  of  doing  what  we  can  to 
train  him  to  habits  of  industry  ami  morality;  and,  in  short,  to 
make  him  a  useful  member  of  the  conmninity.  He  is  urged 
to  break  away  from  every  evil  habit,  and  make  a  great  effort,  for 
his  own  good,  to  improve  in  every  respect. 

Massachusetts. — State  Rcf.  School — He  is  informed  of  the  regu- 
lations, and  efforts  are  made  to  gain  his  contidence.  Girls'  Indus- 
trial.— That  implicit  and  cheerful  obedience  will  be  required. 

[Assem.  No.  35.]  28 


i  I- 


434 


APPENDIX. 


MicJdgan. — When  ft  youth  is  received  into  the  school,  wo  first 
of  all  try  to  muke  him  feci  hs  if  the  institution  was  a  homo,  and 
that  he  has  como  to  live  with  friends  who  will  not  treat  him  as 
a  criminal,  but  as  a  imntaken  boy.  Many  times  they  como  to  us 
in  irons,  as  to  a  prison,  with  feelings  depressed  and  hatied  toward 
all.  After  they  become  acquainted  with  us  and  with  the  institu- 
tion, wo  try  to  convince  them  that  they  have  not  only  broken 
man's  laws,  but  God's  laws,  and  that  to  reform,  they  nuist  begin 
to  acquire  su(  h  habits  as  they  will  want  when  men. 

Mifimuri. — Ho  is  advised  to  shun  the  company  of  those  who 
show  themselves  to  bo  disobedient  and  refractory;  to  be  obedient 
to  the  instructions  of  his  care-takers,  and  kind  toward  his  associ- 
ates. Inmates  are  brought  fi'om  the  city  to  the  institution — four 
miles — by  officers  of  the  institution,  who  take  these  opportunities 
to  converse  witli  children  before  they  are  allowed  to  mingle  with 
the  inma^   ^ 

Ohio,—  "hen  the  children  are  received  into  the  institution,  they 
are  info? '  'od  with  regard  to  their  duty  and  what  is  expected  of 
them  v\x  the  rules,  and  their  necessary  deportment  is  clearly 
cleiii;c<'. 

Pt-'i->:'-'.</U<uiia. — Every  one  committed  here  is  very  kindly  told 
that  m  h  5  been  placed  under  discipline,  that  ho  may  become 
wiser  ai  •«  ter — that  in  his  treatment  here  wo  shall  have  no 
reference  a)  he  oflencc  he  committed,  no  mutter  how  grave  its 
nature,  but  shall  look  merely  to  the  exhibition  of  character 
developed  here,  and  for  this  only  shall  he  be  rewarded  or  cen- 
sured. He  is  then  instructed  in  the  general  rules  that  are  to 
regulate  his  conduct,  and  encouraged  to  live  up  to  them. 

Rhode  Itiiand. — lie  is  carefully  and  fully  instructed  at  to  his  duty. 

WiaroiuhK — All  inmates  are  received  upon  the  same  grade 
The^'  are  informed  that  the  school  is  not  a  place  for  punishment, 
and  th«,'ii  treatment  must  depnid  upon  their  subsequent  behavior. 
The  d<-sign  of  the  school  is  often  cxphiiued  to  them  as  opening 
up  before  them  the  only  sure  a<iuie  to  honor  and  usefulness. 


QuESTios  XXXIX. 

Axe  thf  inmates  divided  into  classes  according  to  their  conduct: 
if  so,  how  many  classes  are  there,  an  '.  btnv  are  tiie  details  ot 
the  clas.'sification  arranged? 


ANSWEi^-S. 

Ooni^^Hcnf. — They  are  not  classsified. 

JlUnotA. — They  are  graded  by  to  their  behavior  and  have  priv- 
ileges accordingly,  th«>  sujjorintendent  hearing  and  deciding  upon 
every  case.  We  arc  dividing,  as  rapidly  as  possi})le,  into  fainilios 
of  30  f-ach,  which  will  be  classitied  in  a  measure  liy  thoir 
eiiai'acter. 


APPENDIX. 


435 


Maine. — They  are  tliviclecl  into  five  classes — 1st,  2tl,  3d  aiul  4th 
grailos,  and  class  of  "  Truth  and  Honor."  When  a  boy  is  received 
into  the  scliool,  h«  is  phiced  in  the  third  grade,  and  is  promoted 
or  degraded  according  to  his  deportment. 

JMurylaml. — They  are  chisisitied.  We  have  five  grades  known 
as  4th,  3d,  2d,  1st,  and  Truth  and  Honor.  When  a  child  is  received, 
he  is  placed  in  the  third  grade.  If  his  conduct  is  good,  ho  is 
promoted  after  a  probation  of  four  weeks  to  the  second  grade,  and 
in  like  niamier  to  the  1st  and  to  "  Truth  and  Honor."  It  usually 
takes  a  boy  about  three  weeks  to  attain  the  highest  grade.  We 
do  not  regard  these  grades  as  a  geiuiine  test  of  character,  but 
simply  as  a  system  of  discipline,  as  a  shrewd  bad  boy  may  make 
an  elf'ort  and  actually  attain  the  highest  grade  of  the  house,  mere- 
ly as  a  matter  of  policy,  while  at  heart  he  may  be  an  unprincipled 
lad.  We  keep  a  daily  record  of  every  boy's  conduct.  The  grades 
are  arranged,  weekly,  from  this  record,  at  which  time  a  report  is 
made  of  each  boy's  record  in  presence  of  the  whole  school. 

31assadmsetts. — State  Kef.  School — The  inmates  are  not  divided 
into  elastics  in  the  congregate  department  according  to  their  conduct, 
but  a  daily  record  is  kept  of  each,  and  the  better  boys  are  graded 
!is  far  as  we  have  room,  into  places  of  trust,  such  as  our  *'  Family 
houses,"  of  which  \\&  have  three,  accommodating  84  boys.  Here  they 
work  on  the  farm  and  garden,  eat  at  the  same  table  and  of  the  same 
food  as  their  officers  and  teachers,  and  have  the  usual  freedom  of 
boys  on  a  farm.  From  these  families,  if  they  do  well,  they  go 
home  on  probation,  or  are  indentured  to  places.  If  their  behaviour 
is  not  good,  they  are  returned  to  the  congregate  dc^partment,  and 
others  p'lt  in  their  places.  Girls'  Industrial. — They  are  not 
classified. 

Michigan. — Our  school  is  not  divided,  but  w^e  try  to  keep  the 
older  from  the  younger  ones,  as  will  be  seen  from  the  report. 

Missouri. — We  have,  in  the  male  department,  two  play  grounds, 
one  for  boys  14  to  16  years  of  age,  and  the  other  for  boys  of  12 
years  and  under.  The  iimiates  are  all  graded  or  classified  accord- 
ing to  their  behaviour  while  in  the  institution.  The  grades  are 
(i)eginning  with  the  lowest)  4,  3,  2,  1,  and  first,  second,  third  and 
fourth  *'  grades  of  honor."  Every  inmate,  when  received,  is  placed 
in  grade  3  by  giving  him  600  merits — the  number  he  must  sub- 
sequently earn  by  good  conduct  before  he  can  pass  to  the  next 
higher  grade.  If,  during  the  first  month,  he  receives  more 
demerits  than  the  total  of  8  !nerits  per  day,  that  is,  more  than  240 
if  the  month  contains  30  days,  or  248  if  it  contains  31  days,  he 
falls  from  three  to  four;  if,  on  the  contrary,  he  has  a  balance  in 
his  favor  at  the  end  of  the  month,  that  l)alance  is  carried  forward 
from  month  to  month  until  he  has  saved  (iOO  over  and  above  demerits, 
wlun  he  is  entitled  to  grade  No,  2.  In  (his  way  he  may  go  on  until  ho 
n'jirhes  the  4th  "  grade  of  honor,"  which,  by  a  rule  adopted  by 
ciir  lk)ard  of  Managers,  entitles  him  to  a  discharjre.     Notice  that 


ttr:fi'^''J^S\. 


^,  It' 


436 


APPENDIX. 


m 


a  Imlancc  against  any  boy  at  the  oud  of  the  month,  is  not  cairied 
forward,  but  cancclecl,  so  that  ho  Las  an  opportunity  of  beginning 
the  next  month  wit>i  nothing;  a<;ainijt  him  but  the  fact  that  ho  lia:j 
made  710  progress.  The  very  best  'Icportmcnt  for  15  consecutive 
months  will  cnti'Jo  a  boy  to  the  4th  "  grade  of  honor,"  and  conse- 
quently a  discharge.  The  demerits  for  any  given  mindemeanor,  are 
uniform.  For  example:  Profanity  is  always  32,  disobedience  0, 
&c.  The  list  of  misdemeanors  and  penalties  is  tho  same  as  that 
used  iutho  Cincinnati  House  of  Refuge. 

Ohio — Thfi  boys  are  separated  into  3  divisions  and  the  girls  into 
2.  They  are  classed  by  age  and  character  when  adnuttod,  or 
subsequently  developed. 

Pennsylvania. — White — There  are  t  wo  classes,  designated  by  the 
letters  A  and  B.  Those  in  division  A  are  under  15  years  of  age;  In 
division  B,  over  15.  If  we  should  have  an  inmate  un<ler  15,  whose 
history  showet!  hiru  to  bo  an  adept  in  crime,  ho  would  bo  classed 
in  division  B,  and  if  there  should  be  one  over  15,  whose  ante- 
cedents were  generally  of  a  favora!)le  character,  ho  would  be 
classed  in  division  A. 

The  association  of  precocious  thieves  and  burglars,  whose  habits 
of  vice  have  i)oen  of  long (ontinuance,  with  those  yoimgor  in  years, 
who,  if  they  have  commlf  ted  crime,  have  been  forced  by  necessity, 
or  urged  on  by  older  and  more  vicious  companions,  is  eminently 
unwise  and  productive  of  incalculable  Injury. 

Xo  matter  how  vigilant  tho  supervision  of  officers  may  be, 
opportunities  will  necessarily  occur  for  the  communication  of  all 
the  details  of  a  corrupt  life,  with  tho  explanation  of  technicalities 
and  a  practical  application  of  skill,  which,  in  too  many  instances, 
render  nugatory  all  the  moral  and  religious  advice  tliat  may  be 
jjiven.  Nor  is  it  stranjje  that  such  is  tho  case.  The  natural  ten- 
denc}'  of  tho  heart  being  evil,  combined  with  a  teaching  they 
occasionally  receive,  and  which  best  suits  their  corrupt  miture,  the 
cUbrts  of  their  moral  instructors  are  rendered  fruitless. 

The  protection  and  salvation  of  tiio  younger  and  less  hardened 
elates,  imperallvt'ly  dem;uul  a  separation  from  the  other.  And 
with  respect  to  t^'e  more  corrupt,  there  is  stiil  tho  saiVio  hope  that 
they  may  be  reclaimed  from  tho  error  of  their  ways  without  tr:i> 
daingor  of  their  creating  a  moral  malaria  that  might  poison  the 
more  imuicent  and  Laisu>])ectii)g  mind. 

We  nave,  then,  two  classes  of  children  that,  for  obvious  rensous 
should  l>e  kept  sepai ate.  There  is  also  a  third  class  of. children 
that  should  not  a»soeiat('  witli  eiiher  of  them  — tue  vagrant  and 
incorrigibi'  . 

The  vagrants,  whose  only  misfortune  is  to  l>e  without  honje  o^ 
friends,  and  who  arc  dt'i^'udent  upon  the  henevolenec  (>f  tb**  ei«H»« 
munit}'  lor  suppoi-l,  .md  the  incorrigil.le  whose  acts  of  disobedi- 
ence  have  been  those  of  truant-playing,  or  a1»?siMUing  themselves 
from  home,  and  who  hiive  not  been  guilty  of  criminal  acts,  should 
constitute  the  third  division. 


APPENDIX. 


437 


These  divisions  should  bo  suh-clividod  into  classes  of  about  forty 
each.     They  should  bounder  tho  care  and  instruction  of  judicious, 
kind  and  pious  teuchors,  wlio  should   impart  moral  and  religious 
trutlis  to  them,  and  advance  tlicm  in  their  scholastic  education. 
They  should  bo  constantly  with  their  pupils  in  the  play  ground, 
tho  work-shop,  the  dining-room,  and  convenient  to  them  in  their 
dormitories.     They  should  study  their  peculiar  traits  of  character 
and  apply  such  remedies  as  may  euro  the  moral  diseases  of  each. 
They  should  share  their  joys  and  sorrows  and  so  identify  thom- 
selves  with  them  as  to  bo  of  their  number  in  all  their  innocent 
pursuits  and  pleasures,  yet  at  the  same  time  preceptors  whoet; 
example  must  be  imitated,  and    whoso  precepts  kindly  received. 
With  so  small  a  number  in  each  cla^s,  and  competent  persons 
to  mould  their  youthful  characters,  much  greater  good  would  bo 
accomplished  than  l)y  the  system  of  assigning  to  one  instructor  u 
hundred  or  moro  boys,  with  only  occasional  opportunities  of  con- 
tributing to  their  moral  and  intellectual  advancement. 

Colored. — The  inmates  are  classiticd  according  to  conduct. 
There  are  eleven  classes.  A  record  of  each  inmate's  offences  each 
month  is  kept,  and  promotion  to  a  higher  grade,  suspension,  or 
deffradation  awarded  at  tho  end  of  the  month. 

Rhode  Idand. — Tho  system  consists  of  four  grades  and  four 
classes — the  lowest  grade  is  the  fourth  ;  tho  highest  class  is  the 
fourth.  Each  grade  al)ovo  tho  third,  (this  being  the  one  where 
children  are  placed  as  admitted)  has  its  privileges;  till,  on  reach- 
ing the  second  and  third  classes  Ihcy  are  oftvn  permitted  to  visit 
their  friends  and  to  go  from  tho  institution  unattended.  On  reach- 
ing the  fourth  class,  boys  arc  discharged  as  reformed,  and  girls 
placed  on  trial  with  friends,  where  they  have  suitable  friends  to 
take  charge  of  them.  When  they  have  not,  care  is  taken  to  pro- 
vide suitable  places  before  they  roach  this  class. 

Wisconsin. — There  are  six  classes  or  grades,  which  are  revieved 
every  month,  and  promotions  are  made  from  the  record  of 
behavior.     All  serious  offences  and  punishments  are  recorded. 

Question  XL. 
How  far  are  the  antecedents  of  the  inmates  recorded  ? 

Answers. 

Connecticut. — Their  parentjige,  employment,  knowledge  "of 
books,  crimes,  «fec.,  are  recorded. 

Illinois. — All  their  history.is  recorded  that  can  bo  obtained. 

Maine. — Employment,  habits,  character  of  parents,  and  sych 
other  facts  of  interest  as  can  be  obtained  from  the  boys  themselves, 
or  from  the  officer  committing  them. 

Maryland. — We  record  everything  of  interest  conoeruing  each 
child,  including  habits,  character  of  parents,  «fcc.,  &c. 

Massacfimetts. — State  JBef.  School, — As  far  as  they  can  be  oscer- 


433 


APPENDIX. 


I 


taiiietl,  we  record  the  general  facts  of  (heir  early  lihtory.  Girls' 
Iiuliirttrial — We  record  their  l)irthi)lace,  p  rentage  and  age  if  they 
can  l>c  ascertained,  previous  circumstances  and  opportunities),  ho 
far  as  they  can  bo  ascertained,  and  causes  of  coniinittal. 

MicJiiyan. — All  important  facts  that  can  I»e  ascertained. 

Missouri. — Wo  ask  and  obtain,  as  far  as  pos8il)le,  answers  to  the 
following  questions,  to  wit :  How  old  are  you  ?  Your  birthplace  ? 
Your  parents'  birthplace  ?  Where  do  your  parents  reside  ?  Their 
occupation?  What  hits  been  yo^r  occupation?  How  long  have 
you  attended  school  ?  How  frequently  have  you  attended  Sunday 
school  ?  Church  ?  Have  you  been  often  to  the  theatre  ?  Have 
you  been  drunk  ?  Used  profane  language  ?  Have  you  slept  at 
uight  in  sheds,  or  in  other  places  not  suitable  for  boys  at  night, 
who  are  not  driven  by  necessity  frotn  their  l)eds  ?  Have  you 
kept  the  company  of  men  or  boys  who  steal  ?  How  many  times, 
previously,  have  you  been  arrested?  Have  any  of  your  relatives 
been  imprisoned  for  crime?  Do  your  parents  ever  get  drimk? 
Do  they  quarrel?  Have  you  a  step-father,  or  step-mother? 
What  caused  you  to  come  to  the  house  of  refuge  ?  Do  your 
))arents  use  profane  language  ? 

Ohio. — A  brief  history  of  the  child  is  recorded,  embracing,  as 
far  as  practicable,  all  important  facts  in  regard  to  the  child  and  l^i.s 
parentage,  his  social  relations  and  moral  habits. 

Fmnsylvania — White. — The  entire  history  of  the  inmates  is 
taken,  up  to  the  time  of  their  admission  into  the  institution.  This 
embraces  their  moral,  intellectual  and  industrial  training,  together 
with  such  knowledge  as  may  be  obtained  concerning  parents, 
guardians,  <fec.  Colored. — S<;  iitv  as  to  enable  us  to  form  an  opin- 
ion of  the  general  chiu-acior  aiul  d'sposition  of  the  subject. 

Rhode  Island. — A^'  far  as  'an  oe  gathered  from  the  children, 
and  by  othe  •  reference,  where  the  children  are  unable  to  toll  much 
of  themselves  or  of  their  families. 

Wiscovsin. — The  history  of  the  family,  as  well  as  that  of  the 
inmate,  is  obtained  and  recorded,  as  far  as  pi.icticable,  at  the  time 
of  admission. 

Question  XLI. 

How  far  is  their  history,  while  connected  with  the  institution, 
made  matter  of  record  ? 

Answers.  \ 

Connecticut. — An  occasional  record  is  made  of  *hcir  conduct 
and  improvement. 

Illinois. — Every  misdemeanor,  however  slight,  is  recorded  in  full 
on  a  page  appropriated  to  each  inmate,  every  j'^oar,  for  that  pur- 
pose. The  foundations,  also,  for  good  conduct  are  noted  in  the 
same  way,  thus  presenting  a  complete  daily  history  of  the  boy's 
conduct  while  in  ihe  institution. 

Maine. — ^No  record  is  kept. 


APPENDIX. 

Mari/h'nd. — Thoir  general  history  while  connected  with  tho 
institution  is  recorded  in  their  " grade  book,"  or  "daily  record," 
U8  wo  'erni  it. 

MamMichusells. — State  Ref.  School — Everything  of  importance 
is  recorded.  GirU'  Industrial. — Whatever  is  of  a  marked  charac- 
ter is  recorded. 

Michigan — We  keep  a  "grade  list,"  in  which  wo  record  the 
otfencos  committed  in  the  school  each  month,  and  these  are  entered 
in  a  hook  kept  in  tho  office  of  the  institution. 

Mitisonri. — The  "grade  book"  shows,  from  day  to  day,  what 
the  conduct  of  each  inmate  is,  as  measured  by  our  standard.  No 
other  history  of  inmates,  while  in  the  institution,  is  kept. 

Ohio. — A  record  is  kept  from  tho  time  of  their  admi^Jsion  till 


their  discharge,  and,  in  tho  case  of  such  as  are  inden 


it  is 


continued. 

Pennxylvania. — Their  history  is  still  continued  whil  , 

but  is  eontined  more  particularly  to  the  condition  of  tli  ,.    ii, 

us  affected  by  the  discipline  of  the  institution. 

Rhode  Island. — The  books  of  histories  are  often  written  up, 
though  more  particularly  when  the  child  leaves  the  institution. 

Wisconsin. — Their  behavior  while  in  the  institution  is  recorded. 

Question  XLII. 

To  what  extent  and  by  what  means  is  a  knowledge  of  them 
kept  up  after  they  are  indentured  or  discharged  ? 

An8  VERS. 

Connecticut. — No  special  efforts  are  made  to  keep  up  a  coires- 
pondencc,  yet  more  letters  arc  received  from  the  boys  than  can 
be  well  answered.     And  the  boys  frequently  visit  the  institution. 

Illinois. — By  correspondence,  as  far  as  possible.  Boys  also 
report  in  reference  to  each  other. 

ilirtj/ie— Persons  to  whom  bo}  n  are  indentured  are  required  to 
report  once  a  year  relative  to  the  character  and  well  being  of  their 
apprentices.  There  is  no  arrangement  by  which  is  maintained  a 
knowledge  of  the  character  and  deportment  of  discharged  boys. 

Maryland. — By  correspondence  and  personal  investigations  as 
far  as  possible.  All  important  facts  are  recorded  in  the  book  of 
histories  of  each  child. 

Massachusetts. — State  Reform  School — By  correspondence  and 
visits  or  any  reliable  information.  Masters  are  required  to  write 
us  twice  a  year,  in  January  and  July,  of  the  condition  and  pro- 
gress of  the  boy.  Nautical  Branch — All  intelligence  of  them  is 
recorded.  Girls'  Industrial — We  keep  up  a  knowledge  of  those 
who  are  under  i^identiire,  as  far  as  possible,  by  correspondence  and 
occasional  visits  by  some  of  the  officers.  Of  those  who  are  dis- 
charged, mainly  by  their  voluntary  correspondence  with  their 
matrons. 


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440 


APPENDIX. 


Michigan. — Not  to  a  very  great  extent,  and  only  by  letters  from 
the  boys  themselves,  except  in  case  of  those  released  upon  leave 
of  absence,  who  are  required  to  write  every  three  months,  or  are 
liable  to  be  retumod. 

Wiscotisin. — Persons  who  receive  inmates  under  indenture  are 
required  to  report  to  the  superintendent  every  year  the  physical, 
moral  and  mental  condition  of  said  apprentices.  We  necessarily 
lose  sight  of  a  large  proportion  of  those  who  are  unconditionally 
discharged.  I  am  of  opinion  that  children,  when  returned  to 
parents,  should  bo  given  up  only  conditionally;  in  other  words, 
that  the  board  of  managers  should  reserve  the  right  to  take  any 
child  back  to  the  institution  whose  parents  will  not  report  the 
condition  of  said  child  to  the  superintendent  twice  every  year. 

Ohio. — By  visiting  and  corresponding  with  them  and  their 
masters. 

Pennsylvania — White  and  Colored — Printed  circulars,  contain- 
ing a  number  of  questions  relative  to  the  character  of  the  appren- 
tice, are  sent  yearly  to  the  masters.  These  are  returned  to  the 
institution  with  the  answers.  The  agent  visits  eech  indentured 
child  once  a  year,  and  by  a  personal  interview  natisfies  himself  as 
to  the  treatment  of  (he  apprentice,  &c. 

Ithode  Inland. — Children  are  placed  out  with  the  understandi^i;; 
that  a  written  commuiiication  be  made  once  in  each  year  at  least. 

Wiftcondn, — Their  conduct  subsequent  to  their  leaving,  as  far 
as  known,  is  recorded. 

Question  XLIII. 

What  proportion  are  reformed  and  turn  out  well  in  after  life? 

Anhwehs. 

Connecticut. — More  than  three-fourths  arc  doing  well. 

Illinofit, — Of  those  honoral)ly  discharged  during  past  six  years, 
I  think  full  seven-eighths  are  doing  well.  (Those  who  have  been 
discharged  by  courts,  or  have  escaped,  or  have  been  returned 
becauNe  inipr<»nerly  committed,  are  not  included  in  this  statement.) 

Maine. — It  is  claimed  that  76  per  cent  are  reformed. 

Maryland. — From  70  to  80  pi^r  cent  are  reformed. 

Manmrhnni'ttd. — Naul  ical  Dranch — M«)re  t  hnn  three-fourths,  so  far 
as  heard  from.  Girls'  Industrial — Our  institution  has  been  in  ope- 
ration for  so  short  a  time,  that  we  are  una))letogrvoanystA(ifltieH<>ii 
this  point.  We  know  of  many  who  are  now  doing  well,  bravely 
struggling  against  temptation,  while  some  are  a  source  of  gri<*f 

to  UN. 

MiMonri, — About  three-fourths,  judging  from  the  necessarily 
very  imperfect  data  we  have. 

Ohio. — A  large  proportion  of  those  discharged;  but  a  history 
of  oaeh  after  leaving  the  instilution  is  too  extensive  an  undertak- 
Jng  to  be  annwercd  deHnltely. 


APPENDIX. 


441 


Pennaylvania — White. — Wo  feel  satisfied,  from  information 
obtjvined  of  the  suh>oqiicut  histories  of  the  children  after  leaving 
here,  thutnt  least  two-thirds  of  them  become  respectable  members 
of  society.     Colored. — Twenty  per  cent. 

Rhode  Island. — A  question  not  easily  answered.  Most  of  them 
are  improved.  Many  do  very  Avell.  Some  take  a  high  rank  in 
the  standing  of  good  citizens,  and  some  do  very  badly — others 
badly  enough. 

Wisconsin. — The  institution  has  l)een  in  operation  only  five 
years.  It  may  be  safely  stated  that  85  per  cent  of  those  discharged 
have  been  peruuiuently  reformed. 

Question  XLIV. 

What  proportion  of  those  received  arc  orphans,  by  the  loss  of 
both  parents? 

Answers. 

Conntcticut. — One-twelfth  part  have  lost  both  parents. 

Illinois. — One-sixth  part. 

Maine, — Uinildo  to  determine. 

Maryland. — About  one-sixth. 

Massachusetts — State  Reform  School. — Four  per  cent.  Nauti- 
cal Hnnich. — About  one-eighth.  Girls'  Industrial. — About  one- 
fifth. 

Missouri. — Less  than  10  per  cent. 

Ohio. — One-fourth. 

Pennsylvania — White. — Our  statistics  for  18G4  show  that  of  the 
number  re(!eived  in  that  year,  45  were  orphans  by  the  loss  of 
both  parents,  and  218  were  half  orphans.  Colored. — Ten  per 
cent. 

Rhode  Island. — Nearly  one-fifth. 

Wisconsin. — About  one-quarter. 

Question  XLV. 
What  proportion  are  half-orphans? 

Annweiis.    * 

Conuecltntt. — Nearly  half. 

Illinois. — About  one-half. 

Maine, — One-fifth. 

Maryland. — About  one-half. 

Massachusetts — State  Uoform  School. — 83  por  coiil.  Nautical 
Branch. — About  one-half.     Girls'  Industrial. — Nearly  onu-hulf, 

Afissouri, — About  ono*half. 

0A/».— One-third. 

Pennsylvania — White. — No  other  answer  than  to  last  qucition. 
Colored. — Ninety  per  cent. 

Rhode  /«/('«(/.— Nearly  one-fifth. 

IIV«co)i«m.'~Abuut  unu-quartur. 


442 


APPENDIX. 


Question  XLVI. 

What  proportion  have  idle  or  vicious  parents  by  >\  hose  example 
they  have  been  led  on  to  crime? 

A  N8WER8. 

Connecticut. — Perhaps  one-third. 

Illinois. — Our  statistics  do  not  fully  show  this — should  think 
one-halt'. 

Maine. — Unable  to  determine. 

Maryland. — About  threc-tifths. 

Massachusetts — State  Reform  School. — Nearly  nil.  Nautical 
Branch. — Nearly  one-half.     Girls'  Industrial. — More  than  half. 

Michigan. — About  two-thirds. 

Missouri. — About  thirty-five  per  cent. 

Pennsylvania — White. — About  one-fourth  have  parents  whose 
example  and  neglect  liave  been  the  chief  causes  of  their  children's 
going  astray.     Colored — Fifty  per  cent. 

Jihode  Island. — One-half  or  more. 

Wisconsin. — Nearly  one-half. 


Question  XLVII. 
What  are  the  recreations  of  the  children? 

Answers. 


1 


Connecticut. — Plays  of  all  kinds  in  the  yard. 

Illinois. — All  proper  amusements  common  with  children. 

Maine. — They  have  three  hours  per  day  for  recreation  in  the 
winter  months,  and  between  four  and  live  in  the  warm  months.  In 
hours  of  recreation  they  are  allowed  the  fullest  liberty  to  indulge 
in  all  plays  that  are  proper  for  any  boys  to  engiige  in. 

Maryland. — About  the  same  as  th(we  of  an  ordinary  school. 

Massachusetts, — State  Reform  School — The  gynniasium,  foot 
ball,  base  ball,  nuirldes,  &c.,  &c.  N.'ntimil  Branch — Such  plays 
us  they  may  choose.  Girls'  Industri  Walks,  nutting,  l)errying, 
skating,  and  various  iiAloor  an!  •  ..oor  games  as  in  other 
families. 

MicMyan. — Ball,  marbles,  hkating,  swimming,  and  games  usual 
in  oonunon  scho(ds,  bv^sides  a  <ryn>nasium  in  the  yard. 

Missouri. — Those  nmu^enicntfi  usually  allowed  to  the  pupils  of 
the  public  schools.  Gtmies  \\\\\  ing  a  tendency  to  do  mischief  ex- 
cluded. Marbles  are  alUtwed,  but  taken  away  as  soon  as  a  dispo- 
sition  to  quarrel  is  nninifested,  in  consequence  of  "  playing  for 
keeps,"  as  the  boys  call  it. 

Ohio. — They  are  up(»n  the  play  grounds  about  two  hours  and  a 
half  each  day,  when  they  are  allowed  to  indulge  in  nucIi  exerclMo 
and  games  as  may  id  ease  thrm,oidy  being  restrained  from  exccM. 

Pennsylvania. — White  and  Colored — The  various  plays  and 


APPENDIX. 


443 


giimes  peculiar  to  children,  except  such  as  have  a  tendency  to 
gambling. 

Rhode  Island. — Such  as  are  common  to  children  of  their  age. 

Wisconsin. — Common  amusements  in  the  yard,  except  games  of 
chance.    No  playing  of  marbles  is  allowed. 

Question  XLVIII. 
Are  they  under  supervision  while  at  play  ? 

Answers. 

All  respond  in  the  affirmative;  and  Mr.  Allen,  of  the  Massachu- 
setts State  Reform  School,  adds  :  •*  The  play  ground,  Ave  think,  is 
one  of  the  best  places  to  influence  boys  for  good." 

Question  XLIX. 

Do  the  persons  who  have  charge  of  the  children,  at  such  times, 
ever  take  part  in  their  games  ? 

Answers. 

Connecticut. — Occasionally  they  do  take  part  in  their  games. 

Illinois. — Sometimes  they  do. 

Maine. — They  frequently  do. 

Maryland. — They  do. 

Massachusetts. — State  Reformed  Scliool — They  do.  Nautical 
Branch — They  do.     Girls'  Industrial — Yes. 

Michigan. — Sometimes  they  do. 

Missouri. — The^  do  frequently,  when  they  have  sufficient  dignity 
to  secure  tlio  respect  of  tlio  children.  Persons  inexporienci'd  in 
the  management  of  the  young,  and  with  little  tact,  are  usually  in 
constant  fear  of  losing  their  inlluence  over  them  by  freely  ming- 
ling with  them  in  their  sports. 

Ohio. — They  do  not  take  part  in  their  games. 

Pennsylvania — White. — Sometimes  the  officers  in  charge  take 
part  in  their  plays.  Colored. — Frequently,  the  superintendent 
sometimes  joining  thorn. 

Rhode  Island. — They  do. 

Wisconsin. — Froquoiitly  they  do. 


Question  L. 


What  is  the  dietary? 


Anhwkrh. 

Connecticut. — Meat  once  a  day,  coffee  and  wheat  bread  for 
hieukfast,  milk  and  bread,  or  mush  and  milk  or  molasses  fur  sup- 
per. 


Hi 


APPENDIX. 


IllinoM. — Breakfast — Bread  and  molasses  and  coffee  every 
morning.  Diinier — Corned  beef  and  vegetables,  fiesh  beef,  with 
soup  and  vegetables,  and  pork  and  beans  alternately.  Supper — 
honiiuy,  rice,  mush  and  bread  alternately. 

Maine. — Monday,  Breakfast — White  bread  and  cofft'e  boiled 
with  milk.  Dinner — Corned  beef,  beats,  cabbage  and  brown 
bread.  Supijer — The  same  as  breakfast.  Tuesday,  Breakfast — 
Same  as  Monday.  Dinner — Fresh  meat,  soup  and  brown  bread. 
Supper — Mush  and  molasses.  Wednesday,  Breakfast — Same  as 
Monday.  Dinner — Baked  beans  and  brown  bread.  Supper — 
Same  as  breakfast.  Thursday,  Breakfast — Same  as  Monday. 
Dinner — Same  as  Tuesday.  Supper — Mush  and  molasses.  Fri- 
day— Breakfast  same  as  Monday.  Dinner — Salt  fish,  potalois 
and  bread.  Supper — Same  as  breakfast.  Saturday,  Breakfast — 
Same  as  Monday,  Dinner — Same  as  Tuesday.  Supper — Same  as 
breakfast,  Sunday,  Breakfast — Same  as  Monday.  Diuner — 
Mush  and  molasses.  Supper — White  bread,  gingerbread  and 
coffee. 

Mart/land. — Meat  once  a  day,  either  in  soup  or  baked,  with  vege- 
tables, bread,  eoflceand  tea,  with  more  or  less  fruit  in  the  season. 
From  the  farm  wo  are  able  to  give  them  quite  a  variety  of  vegc- 
tables. 

Mafisaclnmetts — State  llefoim  School. — Plain,  garden  vegetal)ies 
in  abundance;  meat  once  a  day,  brown  bread  and  white  bread. 
Nautical  Branch. — Breakfast  and  Supper — Colfeo  and  hard  bread. 
Dinnei' — Sunday,  fresh  beef  and  soup;  Monday,  corned  beef  and 
bread  pudding;  Tuesday,  pork  and  beans;  Wednesday,  fresh  beef 
and  soup;  Thursday,  corn  beef  and  duft';  Fritlay,  p(»rk  and  beans; 
Satur<lay,  salt  fish  and  potatoes,  fresh  fish  occasionally.  Girls' 
Indiutrial.-— Breakfast,  bread  and  milk;  Dinner,  beans,  nuish, 
corned  beef  and  vegetables,  rice,  fish  and  soup  and  on  Sunday 
gingerbread;  Supi)er,  bread  and  butter,  or  bread  and  syrup. 

XlU'higan. — Breakfast,  wheat  bread  and  barley  coffee,  and  some- 
times  potatoes  and  butter;  Dinner,  fresh  beef,  bread  and  vege- 
tables; Supper,  bread  and  butter,  or  molasses.  Sometimes  they 
have  soup,  at  other  times  beans. 

Midtiouii. — In  summer  we  give  then>  a  good  variety  of  vege- 
tables in  their  season,  good  fresh  beef  and  mutton  once  a  day,  and 
first  rate  bread  at  every  meal.  In  winter,  fresh  meat  fnuitton  or 
beef)  oneo  and  sometimes  twice  a  day.  If  twice,  it  is  l)oiled  for 
dinner,  and  the  remaining  portion  sliced  an<l  eaten  cold  An*  snp' 
per.  Hash  is  served  for  breakfast.  The  bill  of  faro  for  the  win- 
ter is  as  fidlows: 

Sunday — Breakfast,  bread  and  coffee;  class  of  honor,  fish  or 
meat  hash;  Dinner,  meat  hash  and  nickle,  bread  and  water; 
class  of  honor,  desert,  pi<>  or  pudding;  Supper,  bread  and 
sorglitun,  with  water;  when  very  e(dd,  weak  entree. 

Monday — 'Breakfast,  corn  bread  and  coffee:  Dinne:*,  stewed  beef, 
with  unioHii  uud  potatoes;  Supper,  bread  und  cufluo. 


APPENDIX. 


446 


Tuesday — Breakfast,  cold  sliced  beef  and  bread,  with  coffee; 
class  of  honor,  stewed  meat  and  potatoes,  bread  and  coffee;  Dim 
ner,  boile<l  beef,  beans,  soup  and  bread;  class  of  honor,  desert, 
boiled  rice  or  hominy  and  sorghum;  Supper  mush  and  molasses. 

Wednesday — Breakfast,  meat  hash,  bread  and  coffee;  Diinier, 
boiled  beef,  hominy  or  vegetable  soup  and  bread,  and  baked  bread 
pudding;  Supper,  corn  bread  and  coffee. 

Thursday — Breakfast,  corn  bread  and  coffee;  dinuer,  boiled 
beef  and  beans,  soup  with  bread;  class  of  honor,  desert,  rice  pud- 
ding; Supper,  bread  and  coffee. 

Friday — Breakfast,  meat  hash,  bread  and  coffee;  dinner,  codfish 
and  potatoes,  or  cold  meat  and  suet  pudding;  Supper,  mush  and 
molasses. 

Saturday — Breakfast,  cold  sliced  meat,  broad  and  coffee;  Dinner 
boiled  beef  and  bean  soup,  or  baked  beans;  class  of  honor,  desert, 
bread  and  sorghum;  Supper,   bread  and  coffee. 

Ohio. — For  dinner,  Sunday,  corned  beef,  bread  and  butter; 
Monday,  fresh  beef  and  vegetal)lc8;  Tuesday,  pork  and  l)oan8  and 
soup;  Wednesday,  corned  beef  and  bean  soup;  Thursday,  fresh 
beef  and  potatoes;  Friday,  fresh  beef  and  potatoes;  Saturday, 
fresh  beef  and  vegetables.  Coffee  for  breakfast  during  cold 
weather.     Holidays,  extras. 

Pennsylvania. — White — Breakfast,  bread  and  coffee:  Dinner, 
meat  soup,  potatoes,  and  other  vegetables,  with  bread;  Supper, 
mush  and  molasses  three  times,  and  bread  and  molasses  four  times. 
Colored — plain  but  wholesome  food,  an  abundance  of  which  is  fur- 
nished, except  when  in  the  administration  of  severe  discipline  a 
dei)rivation  becomes  necessary. 

Rhode  Island. — Food  always  provided  with  direct  reforonoo  to 
the  season  of  the  year  and  the  condition  of  the  children,  without 
Muy  wet  rules,  cvcopt  to  have  it  fully  suffii^iont  in  quantity,  whole- 
some and  palatable  in  quality,  and  thoroughly  cooked. 

WLvionsin, — liroakfast,  wheat  bread,  potatoes,  with  butter  or 
moat  gravy,  noooH'oe  or  tea  is  given;  Dinner,  soup,  beans,  moat, 
codfish  and  mush,  changing  daily;  Supper,  white  bread  and  butter 
or  syrup. 

Question  LI. 

Are  the  inmates  allowed  any  food  or  luxuries  beyond  what  is 
jirovided  by  the  institution? 

Anmwkur. 

Itlinoi/t. — Thoy  are  allowed  any  proper  thing  that  may  bo 
brought  thuni  by  their  parents  or  friends. 

i^fiu'n«. — Parents  and  friends  of  the  boys  are  permitted  to  fur- 
dish  thorn  with  any  luxuries  that  arc  nut  thought  tu  bu  ii\jurioUH 
to  their  health. 

Mavyland. — Thoy  are. 


446 


APPENDIX. 


Massachusetts. — ^Parents  send  boxes  of  eatables,  as  iu  other 
schools. 

Michigan. — They  are.  ^ 

Missouri. — Yes  ;  cakes,  pies,  fruits,  &c.,  are  often  brought  by 
parents  and  friends  of  iunmtes,  and  under  proper  restrictions  uru 
always  allowed. 

Ohio. — They  are  not,  except  by  special  permission. 

Penuyslvania. — White — Parents  and  friends  are  permitted  occii- 
sionally  to  furnish  them  with  such  articles  of  food  as  are  not  pro- 
vided for  in  our  dietary,  if  the  conduct  of  the  children  has  bocn 
such  as  to  deserve  them.  Colored — They  are  allowed  to  receive 
some  delicacies  from  their  relatives,  only  as  rewards  for  good  con- 
duct. 

Rhode  Island. — They  may  receive  food. 

Wisconsin. — Sometimes,  by  friends  when  visiting  them.    « 

Question  LII. 
What  attention  is  given  to  enforcing  cleanliness  ? 

Answers. 

Connecticut. — They  are  required  to  wash  daily  and  bathe  oiico  a 
week. 

Illinois. — They  are  required  to  wash  five  times  each  day,  and 
in  every  department  are  required  to  present  a  neat  and  tidy  appear- 
ance. In  winter,  they  bathe  the  whole  person  once  a  week;  in 
summer,  they  go  to  the  lake  to  bathe  every  other  evening. 

Maine. — They  are  required  to  wash  themselves  three  times  a 
day  at  least,  and  bathe  tlie  whole  person  once  in  two  weeks. 

Maryland. — Constant  supervision  by  the  officers  in  charge.  In 
summer  they  bathe  the  person  once  a  week;  in  winter  not  so  often. 

3IassachHsetts. — State  Reform  School :  Regular  attention.  Wash- 
ing three  times  a  day.  Nautical  Branch:  Very  particular,  (iirls' 
industrial :  Constant  attention.  Very  frequent  bathing  of  the  whoh; 
person  is  required  in  all. 

Mivhiyan. — There  is  an  officer  in  charge  when  they  wash  for 
meals,  and  each  chief  is  held  responsible  for  the  cleanliness  of  the 
boys  under  his  charge.    They  bathe  the  whole  person  once  a  week. 

Missouri. — Every  inmate  is  compelled  to  bathe  his  entire  per- 
son every  Saturday,  and  to  wash  his  hands  and  face  before  break- 
fast, dinner  and  supper. 

Ohio, — iMuch  attention  is  giveti  to  cleanliness,  which  is  strictly 
enforced.     They  bathe  twice  a  week  in  eununer  and  once  in  winter. 

Pennsylvania. — Cleaidiness,  being  considered  next  to  godlinosi-*. 
receives  its  appropriate  share  of  attention.  In  summer  they  bathe 
in  pools  once  a  day. 

Rhode  Island. — The  strictest  attention  is  given.  Bathing  the 
whole  person  onoe  a  week  always,  at  times  oftener. 


APPENDIX. 


447 


Wisconsin. — Daily  washing  before  meals.  In  the  summer,  fre- 
quent bathing  in  the  river.  In  the  winter,  weekly  washing  and 
bathing  the  whole  person. 

Question  LIU, 
How  a^  to  the  health  of  the  inmates  ? 

Answers. 

The  replies  are  uniform  here  as  to  the  groat  and  ever  remarka- 
ble hculthfulnets  of  the  inmates. 

Question  LIV. 
What  percentage,  on  an  average,  are  on  the  sick  list? 

Answers. 

The  response  to  this  question,  in  general,  is  one-fourth  or  one- 
half  of  one  per  cent.  Some  reply  one  or  two  per  cent.;  and  the 
colored  department  at  Philadelphia  four  per  cent. 

Question  LV. 
What  per  centage  die  annually? 

Answers. 

Connecticut.. — Less  than  one  a  year. 

Illinois. — 16  out  of  83G  in  ten  years. 

Maine — One  and  one-ninth  per  cent. 

Mart/land — Of  the  whole  number  since  the  opening  of  the 
institution,  a  little  less  than  one  and  a  half  per  cent. 

Mnssavhnsetts. — State  Ref.  School — Less  than  two  per  cent  since 
the  opening  of  the  school.  Statistics  of  the  number  of  deaths 
do  not,  as  a  general  thing,  indicate  the  facts  exactly,  as  it  is  cus- 
tomary, when  boys  are  declining  in  health,  to  allo'v  their  parents 
to  take  them  home  and  take  care  of  them.  If  such  >  ys  die,  their 
names  would  not  appear  as  dying  at  the  institution,  aniJ  the  average 
number  of  such  would  also  bo  reduced.  Nautical  Branch — Oue- 
sixth  of  one  per  cent,  (lirls  Industrial — Of  the  470  who  have 
l)con  inmates,  but  two  have  died  in  the  institution. 

Michigan. — Two  per  cent. 

Missouri. — Loss  than  three-fourths  of  one  per  cent. 

Ohio. — During  the  last  eighteen  months  but  one  death  has 
occurred  in  the  Institution. 

Pennsylvania.— i2o\oY*i(\ — Two  per  cent. 

Hhode  Island. — No  death  has  occurred  since  18(51,  and  for  pre- 
vious years  less  than  one-tenth  of  one  per  cent,  except  one  year 
wlicn  three  deaths  occurred. 

Wiscottsin. — No  death  has  occurred  in  the  school  since  it  was 
opened,  five  years  ago,  out  of  353  Inmates. 


>i 


448 


APPENDIX. 


Question  LVI. 

What  are  the  diseases  most  prevalent? 


V 


Answers. 

Connecticut. — No  prevailing  disease. 

Illinois — Do  not  know. 

Maine. — Fevers. 

Maryland. — No  particular  form  of  disease. 

Massachusetts. — State  Ref.  School — None  in  particular.  Nauti- 
cal Branch — Inflammation  of  the  eyes.  Girls  Industrial — Hereditary 
diseases,  syphilitic  and  scrofulous, 

Michigan. — F'eve^'  and  ague  and  measles. 

Missouri. — Scrofulous  opthalmia  is  the  prevailing  disease.  Wo 
have  no  running  water,  but  draw  all  the  water  we  use  from  cis- 
terns and  wells.  We  have  been  compelled  to  use  hard  water  for 
all  purposes  several  weeks  at  a  time. 

Ohio. — Chills  and  fever. 

'  Pennsylvania. — White — Have  had  so  little  sickness  that  we  can- 
not refer  to  any  "prevalent  disease."     Colored — Tubercular. 

Rhode  Island. — None  that  can  be  called  prevailinff. 

\ 

Question  LVII. 
How  often  does  the  physician  attend? 

,   Answers. 

Connecticut. — The  superintendent  is  a  ph3'sician. 

Illinois. — Whenever  required. 

Maine. — When  summoned. 

Maryland. — Usually  three  times  a  week,  oftener  when  necessary. 

Massachusetts. — State  Ref.  School — Once  a  week  and  oftener  if 
needed.  Nautical  Branch — About  fifteen  or  twenty  times  a  year. 
Girls'  School — Once  a  week  and  oftener  if  necessary. 

Michigan. — Once  in  two  weeks,  and  oftener  if  desired. 

Missouri. — When  notified  that  his  professional  services  are 
required. 

0/«<'o.— Usually  but  twice  each  week. 

Pennsylvania. — White  and  Colored — The  physician  attends 
twice  a  week  to  examine  all  new  imnates,  and  prescribe  for  tlio 
sick,  if  the*  •■  should  be  any.  If  his  services  irtiould  l»c  lequlrod 
oftener,  it  would  be  his  duty  to  attend. 

Rhode  Island. — Twice  a  week. 

Wisconsin, — The  superintendent  is  physician. 


APPENDIX.  449 

Question  LVUI. 
What  hospital  accommodations  are  there? 

Answers. 

• 

ConnecttciU. — All  that  la  needed. 

Illinois. — Have  a  room  on  purpose — small,  but  comfortable. 

Maine. — ^Rooms  for  hospital  use  scantily  furnished. 

Maryland. — A  large  room  in  a  quiet  part  of  the  house. 

Massachusetts. — State  Reform  School — Good  accommodation  in 
a  building  specially  adapted.  Nautical  Brancli — We  send  to 
Rainsford  Island — state  hospital.  Girls'  School — A  hospital  room 
in  each  house  is  contemplated. 

Michigan, — A  room  in  one  corner  of  the  building,  16  by  20 
feet.  Shall  have  better  when  we  build,  as  we  hope  to  in  the 
spring. 

Missouri. — In  the  male  department  none  in  reality.  We  have 
one  small  room,  say,  8  by  12  by  10,  with  no  convenience  for 
warming  in  the  winter,  where  one  or  two  boys  are  occasionally 
placed  when  unable  to  leave  their  beds.  This  room  is  the  only 
accommodation  we  have  for  such  boys,  who  need  to  be  kept  apart 
from  the  well.  In  the  female  department  a  hospital  room  of  suf- 
ficient size  to  accommodate  six  persons  is  provided. 

Ohio. — The  various  hospitals  will  accommodate  about  thirty 
patients,  with  bathing  rooms  and  water  closets  complete. 

Pennsylvania. — White — Spacious  well  ventilated  rooms  in  each 
department  for  the  sick  of  either  sex.  Colored — A  boys'  infirmary, 
containing  eight  beds;  a  girls'  infirmary,  containing  six  beds,  with 
all  necessary  furniture,  &c. 

Rhode  Island. — Four  small  rooms,  bath  room,  water  closet  and 
sink  room. 

Wisconsin. — Two  large  rooms  furnished. 

Question  LIX. 

What  have  been  the  aggregate  annual  earnings  of  the  inmates 
for  the  last  ten  years? 

Answers. 

Connecticut. — About  $4,000  per  year  for  work  done  for  parties 
outside  the  institution. 

Illinois. — Can  not  give  the  amount  for  ten  years.  Last  year 
their  earnings  amounted  to  $10,000.  This  year  I  think  they  will 
be  more. 

Maine. — The  aggregate  annual  earnings  are  as  follows: 

1856    $2,096  91 

1857    1.2a;i  96 

1858    718  58 

[Assom.  No.  35.]  S9 


450  APPENDIX. 

1859  $1,025  12 

1860  2,529  59 

1861   3,307  53 

1862  1,183  57 

1863 J 4,327  77 

1864 4,155  69 

1865  4,745  13 

These  amounts  do  not  include  the  value  of  the  boys'  hibor  upon 
the  fiirm,  which  would  add  materially  to  the  gross  amount. 

Maryland. — The  institution  has  been  opened  but  about  ten 
years.  During  the  first  six  years  little  success  attended  the  efforts 
of  those  in  charge,  in  remunerating  employments.  The  annual 
amount  received  for  the  last  years,  from  employments,  has  been 
about  $9,000. 

Masaachiisetta. — State  Reform  School — Cannot  answer,  as  a  large 
number  work  on  the  land  in  summer,  for  which  we  receive  nothing 
in  cash.  Nautical  Branch — No  income.  Girls'  School — We  can- 
not tell.  Most  of  the  time  is  spent  in  instructing  them  in  house- 
hold labor  and  sewing  for  the  family.  The  present  superintendent 
has  been  here  four  years,  during  which  time  the  girls  have  earned, 
by  knitting  and  braiding,  $2,000 

Michigan. — Wo  have  no  means  of  ascertaining  the  amount 
previously  earned. 

Missouri. — Have  not  the  necessary  time  to  answer  correctly. 

Ohio. — $30,371.15  for  the  last  ten  years. 

Pennsylvania. — White — For  the  last  ten  years  the  aggregate 
earnings  of  the  inmates  have  been  $51,543.26.  Colored — $23,- 
025.14. 

Question  LX.- 
What  arc  the  annual  aggregate  expenses  for  the  same  period? 


Answers. 

Connef^icM/.— $20,000. 

Illinois. — Our  total  expenditure  for  five  and  a  half  years,  in- 
cluding building  improvements  and  all,  $151,000. 
Maim. — The  aggregate  annual  expenses,  are  as  follows: 
1856 $30,627  85 

1857  32,696  20 

1858   25,783  37 

1859 19,452  88 

1860  20,027  45 

1861  19,799  95 

1862  16,553  15 

1863  14,636  55 

1864  26,536  07 

1?65  27,772  11 


APPENDIX. 


461 


Maryland. — ^Tho  aggregate  annual  expenses  for  the  last  nine 
years,  is  $256,373.30. 

Massachusetts. — State  Reform  School — $42,404.48  annually  to 
the  stttte.  Nautical  Branch — About  $24,000  per  annum.  Girls' 
School — The  institutiou  has  been  in  operation  but  nine  years. 
Aggregate  expenses  for  that  time  have  been  nearly  $134,000. 

Missouri. — Total  expenditures  for  ten  years,  ending  April  1, 
1865,  are  $191,240.11. 

0/«'o.— $402,357.18  for  the  ten  years. 

Pennsylvania, — White — The  aggregate  annual  expenses  for  the 
last  10  years  have  been  $21)8,284.29.     Colored— $126,784.15. 

Question  LXI. 

Whnt  has  been  the  average  annual  cost  of  each  inmate,  including 
all  expenses  other  than  the  interest  on  the  real  estate  belonging  to 
the  institution  ? 

Answers. 

///tnow.— Average  cost  per  year  of  providing  for  each  inmate 
for  past  5j  years,  including  buildings  and  all,  after  deducting 
earnings  of  boys,  is  $104.  This  average  is  lessened  considerably 
by  a  portion  of  our  inmates  being  out  on  ticket-of-Ieave  all  the 
time. 

Maine. — $118. 

Maryland. — Average  annual  expense  per  capita  for  nine  years, 
$92.92. 

Massachusetts. — State  Reformed  School — $112.63.  Nautical 
Branch— $154.    Girls'  School— $119.08. 

Missouri. — About  $130. 

0/«o.— $157.90. 

Pennsylvania. — White — The  average  4innual  cost  of  each  in- 
mate for  1864,  including  all  expenses,  woe  $92.76.  Colored — For 
1855,  the  cost  per  capita  was  $70.77  (exclusive  of  earnings) ;  1866, 
$66.70;  1857,  $74.65:  1858,  $74.77;  1859,  $77.21;  1860,  $77.88; 
1861,  $75.63;  1862.  $70.98;  1863,  $84.84;  1864,  $110.60. 

Wisconsin.— Evom  $180  to  $200. 

Question  LXII. 

What  is  the  average  period  during  which  children  are  retained 
in  the  institution  ? 


I 


1  1 


Answers. 

Connecticut. — The  average  stay  of  inmates  is  two  years  and  a 
half. 
Illinois. — Should  think  about  two  years. 
Maine. — Twenty-eight  months. 
Maryland. — Twenty  and  a  half  months. 


452 


appendix: 


Massachusetts. — State  Reform  School — Between  two  and  thico 
years.  Last  year,  t^yo  years,  two  months  and  27  days.  Nautical 
Branch — Nine  and  two-third  months.  Girls'  School — About  three 
years. 

Michigan. — About  two  and  a  half  years. 

Missouri. — Hitherto  it  has  not  exceeded  seven  months. 

Ohio. — Two  years,  five  months  and  four  days. 

Pennsylvania. — White — The  rule  of  the  institution  obliges  them 
to  remam  under  its  discipline  one  year,  in  order  that  they  may 
pass  through  all  the  classes  denoting  moral  improvement,  and 
then,  if  this  bo  the  case,  they  are  considered  fit  for  discharge,  by 
indenture  or  otherwise.  As  they  are  not  always  discharged  at  the 
expiration  of  the  year,  the  average  time  is  something  more. 
Colored — 18  months. 

Wisconsin. — Two  years. 

Question  LXIII. 
What  is  the  average  ago  at  which  they  are  received  ? 

Answers. 

Connect i'-Ht. — The  average  age  is  twelve  years  and  a  half. 

Illinois. — About  twelve  an«l  a  half  years  of  age.  \ 

Viaine. — Twelve  j"^  years  is  the  average  ago  at  which  they  arc 
rec(»ived. 

Mart/land. — The  average  age  s  twelve  years. 

Massavhusvtts.  —  State  Ri^form  School  —  Last  year,  eleven 
years,  seven  months  and  six  days.  Nautical  Branch — Fifteen 
years  is  the  average.  Girls'  School — About  thirteen  years  is  the 
average. 

Michigan.- -Wnnxi  thirteen  years. 

Missouri.  -The  avenige  of  the  boys  is  eleven  years,  one  and  a 
half  months  ;  girls,  seven  years  and  eleven  months. 

Ohio. — Tvvelvfi  years,  live  months  and  twenty  seven  days. 

Pennsyh'tuiia. — White.--Tho  average  nge  of  boys  received  in 
IM(M,  was  lij}  years,  and  girls  14||  years.  Colored. — B(»ys  12 
y«'«r.s     (Jirls  11  years. 

WisvuHsin. — The  average  age  is  twtdvo  years. 

Question  LXIV. 
Whiit  is  the  average  age  at  wlii(^l)  they  are  discharged? 

Anhweijn. 

^V>»;)^^^V»^     Fourteen  years. 
/lliii'tis,     Il»'tw(>en  fiiurleen  and  (Ifleen  years. 
Mdinr,     Kiriei-n  yiwu'H  two-t«'n(bs  in  the  average. 
..^hiryhtml, — Average  atfo  at  time  of  diseliiirge  fourteen  yearn. 
Ahtssar/nimtts. — Slute  Heform   Seh«M>|, — Altout  fourteen  yeai'N. 
Nuulioal  nrani'h— Fifloeii  and  two-thirds  years.     Girls'  School— 


P 


APPENDIX. 


453 


Thoy  are  not  discharged  until  eighteen,  unless  for  ill  health,  or 
occtisionftlly  for  some  other  sufficient  cause. 

Michigan. — About  fifteen  and  a  half  years. 

Misfom'i. — Boys  eleven  years  and  eight  and  a  half  months ; 
girls  eight  years  and  six  months. 

Ohio. — Fourteen  years  and  eleven  months  is  the  average  age. 

Pennsylvanio. — White. — Boys  about  fourteen  and  girls  fifteen 

and  a  half.  Colored — Boys  thirteen  and  a  half,  girls  fifteen 
and  a  half. 

Wisconsin. — Fifteen  years  of  ago  is  tho  average. 

Question  LXV. 
What  punishments  are  employed  ? 

Answers. 

Connecticut. — We  hold  to  Solomon'/i  advice,  after  all  other 
remedies  have  failed.  No  strange,  cruel,  or  degrading  punish- 
ments arc  allowed. 

lUinois. — Change  of  grades — standing  up  for  rofiection — broad 
and  water,  and,  very  rarely,  whipping. 

Maine. — Sv)litary  confinement,  deprivation  of  play,  and  corpo- 
ral punishment. 

Marifland. — Wo  rely  mainly  on  our  grades ;  but  as  auxiliaries, 
wo  use  deprivation  of  play,  loss  of  evening  meal,  placing  in  rooms, 
and,  as  a  last  resort,  corporal  i)unishmont  is  infiicted. 

Massachusetts. — State  lieform  School. — Deprivation  of  privi- 
leges, simple  diet,  isol'ition,  and  returning  from  tho  "  families"  to 
tho  congregate  denartment.  Floguing  and  such  cheap  punish- 
ments,  so  easily  intlicted  and  so  reauily  resorted  to  by  the  passion- 
ate and  iniHkillful  or  inexperienced,  wo  have  but  little  faith  in  as 
a  means  of  reformation.  Fear  may  restrain,  but  love  only  can 
reform.  Nautical  Branch — Mild  corporal  piuiishment.  Girls' 
School — Denrivation  of  privileges  (diet  and  corrospondenco  with 
friondM),  ami  solitude. 

Mirhif/an. — Deprived  of  play,  deprivation  of  food  for  one  meal, 
separate  confinement,  and  cori)oral  niinishment  when  necessary. 

Missoioi. — Demerit  marks  chiolly,  in  addition  to  which  are 
oxcluMJon  from  the  privileges  of  the  play  ground,  confinement  in 
a  light  cell,  los^  of  one  or  more  meals,  and  corporal  inllictions. 

Ohio. — 1st.  I*rlva(ion  of  play  and  exercise  ;  2<l.  Sendhjg  to  bod 
at  sunset ;  iUt.  Bread  and  water  for  breakfast,  dimier  and  supper ; 
nil.  Confmement  in  solitary  rooms  and  cells  ;  and  r>tli.  Corpcmtl 
punishment. 

Pennsi/fran/a. — White  and  colored — Deprivation  of  a  part  of 
a  meal  or  of  play  ;  confinement,  if  necesMary,  tipon  a  diet  of  bread 
and  water,  and  corporal  punishment  in  extreme  ciihcs,  with  loss  of 
rank.  »      , 


\\ 


454 


APPENDIX. 


Question  LXVI. 
What  rewards,  if  any,  are  oftered  as  a  stimulus  to  good  conduct? 

Answers. 

Connecticut. — No  general  rewards  are  offered.  Presents  for 
good  conduct  are  frequently  given. 

IlHnois. — Promotions  in  grades  ;  cxtfa  privileges  ;  visits  to  the 
city,  (fee,  &c. — a  sufficient  variety  to  keep  up  constant  striving  for 
good  behavior. 

Maine. — Extra  privileges,  such  as  going  outside  to  play  ball, 
skate,  &c. 

Man/land. — Rewards  are  gained  through  their  grades,  consist- 
ing of  Avalits  al)out  the  neighborhood,  citlier  with  or  without  an 
officer ;  liberty  of  visiting  their  friends ;  choice  of  clothing  and 
occasional  invitations  to  dine  with  the  superintendent,  and  many 
other  privileges  of  like  character. 

MiussnchiMcfts. — State  Keforin  School — The  natural  rewards  of 
good  conduct,  which  always  inspires  confidence  and  regard,  and 
secures  privileges.  The  better  boys  are  always  given  the  places 
of  trust  and  positions  in  "family  houses."  Nautical  Branch — 
Boys  arc  discharged  for  good  conduct.  Girls*  School — We  have 
no  nifHtcin  of  rewards,  but  each  matron  offers  such  as  her  own 
judgment  may  suggest. 

Michigan. — Skating,  swimming,  fre<|uent  visits  to  the  city  to 
make  purchases  with  money  received  from  friends,  and,  tlie  great- 
est of  all,  the  hope  of  early  returning  to  their  homes  and  friends. 

Mi,s,vn(i'i. — The  privilege  of  visiting  parents  or  friends  oeetision- 
ally,  small  sums  of  money,  or  its  e(|uivalent  In  such  articles  as 
may  lie  selected  for  food,  clothing  or  innocent  amusement,  and  the 
right  of  discharge  after  having  reached  the  fourth  grade  of  honor. 

Ohio, — Merit  marks,  which  hasten  the  time  of  discharge,  and 
additional  time  for  play. 

J*ninsi//rani(i. — White — Promotions  in  the  chiHses  Is  the  gene- 
ral stlnuiluH  to  good  conduct.  Colored — Rewards  are  bestowed 
on  all  wli(»  rcai^h  the  "class  of  honor,"  our  highest  class.  The 
late  Thomas ,).  Cope,  a  president  of  the  board,  in  his  will  made 
provisions  for  such  rewards. 

QUKSTION   LXVII. 
Is  It  customary  to  present  a  BIIjIo  to  each  Inmate  on  leaving  ? 

Anhwkhs. 

In  almost  all,  either  bibles  or  testaments  are  given,  commonly 
(he  former. 

QUKHTION  LXVIII. 

If  NO,  Is  tlit^  gift  accompanied  with  counsels,  written  or  oral,  as 
to  his  future  conduct? 


APP£NDIX. 


455 


Answers. 

Connectt'cu*  — It  is.  He  is  told  that  if  he  follows  the  teachings 
of  the  Bil\      .^  will  be  safe. 

Illinois.-  :AV  boys  are  kept  in  monthly  ccrrespontlenco  or  com- 
munication with  the  school  until  well  settled. 

Mari/hmd. — The  gift  is  accompanied  with  advice. 

Masmchmetts. — The  answer  in  nil  three,  is  yes.  In  the  Girls' 
School  it  is  accompanied  with  both  oral  and  written  counsels. 

Michigan. — Oral  counsel  is  given. 

Mimouri. — No  written  counsels  are  given  to  inmates  upon 
leaving. 

Ohio. — The  gift  is  accompanied  by  counsels,  both  written  and 
oral. 

Vennsyhania. — White — a  private  letter  of  wholesome  advice  is 
presented  to  each  inmate.  Colored — it  is  accompanied  l>y  I)()th 
written  and  oral  advice. 

Rhode  Island. — Oral  advice  is  always  given,  written  sometimes. 

(Question  LXIX. 

What  classes  of  boys  are  found  most  difficult  of  reformation  ? 
what,  of  girls? 

,  Answers. 

Connecticut, — The  lowest  class,  found  in  our  cities,  of  both  scxc!;!. 

Illinois. — Those  over  fourteen  years  of  ago — both  sexes. 

^f(trlfland. — If  there  is  any  particular  class  more  difficult  thiin 
another,  I  should  say  that  chiKs  of  boys  who  have  acquired  that 
roaming,  reNtlosM  disposition  that  renders  it  difficult  to  instil  into 
them  any  Hxed  habits. 

Mamavhmi'tts. — Reform  Sclio(d:  Those  that  come  from  the  loweit 
grades  of  Hociety  and  inherit  their  vicious  propensities,  and  not  those 
of  respectable  parentage,  who  form  bad  habits  from  evil  associations. 
Girls'  School:  Girls  from  the  eifv,  of  fifteen  and  sixteen  years  of 
age,  who  have  been  exposed  to  the  intlueuces  of  the  street. 

Michigan. — Those  from  our  largest  cities  arc  most  difficult  of 
reformation. 

.Mismufi, — Boys  between  the  ages  of  fourteen  and  sixteen  yonri, 
who  have  been  juevionsly  arrested  several  times,  and  eonfin(>d  tor 
short  periods  of  time  in  tlie  city  ralahoosc  or  in  the  county  Jiiil  ; 
and  girls  who  have  lost  that  purity  of  character  which  is  woininrs 
shield. 

O/f/o.— Those  admitted  for  ineorrigiltility. 

I^niisylrania, — White:  The  boys  most  difficult  to  reform  nre 
those  who  an^  adviiiieed  in  yetirs,  and  whose  vicious  haltils  have 
lieen  of  long  eontimnuiee,  and  it  is  es|)eeially  the  case  with  some 
whose  greatest  propensity  has  been  to  <lisregard  tlu^  eighth  com- 
niiindment.  Ot  tin*  prevailing  fiiults  of  botli  sexes,  whilst  in  the 
institution,  the  most  difficult  to  eradicate  is  u  disposition  to  tell 


466 


APPENDIt. 


falsehoods.    The  girls  most  diflScult  to  reform  are  those  who  have 
been  addicted  to  lewdness. 

Rhode  Island. — Those  who  have  been  immoral  and  vile  in  their 
associations,  both  boys  and  girls. 

Question  LXX. 

Does  the  institution  reserve  the  right  of  a  guardian  over  those 
who  have  been  indentured  ? 
The  answer  is  "yes,"  from  all  the  reformatories. 

Question  LXXI. 

If  an  indentured  youth  leave  his  master,  must  he  again  be 
brought  back  to  the  institution? 

Answers. 

Connecticut. — Ho  must  be  brought  back,  if  he  can  be  found. 

Maine. — He  must  be  brought  back. 

Maryland. — It  would  depend  somewhat  on  his  age  and  charac- 
ter; but  the  usual  custom  is  to  cause  all  such  to  be  returned  who 
are  not  too  old  for  such  an  institution.  \ 

Masmchusetts. — Yes,  in  all  three  institutions. 

Michigan. — It  depends  upon  the  condition  of  his  indenture. 

Missouri. — Yes,  if  he  can  be  found. 

Ohio. — Not  necessarily,  but  may  bo  with  consent  of  directors, 
without  a  new  commitment. 

Pennsylvania. — White  and  colored:  If  a  lad  absconds  from  his 
master,  he  can  be  returned  to  the  institution.  This  is  done  in 
some  cases,  but  if  it  should  be  discovered  that  ho  is  doing  well; 
he  is  not  intefered  with.  When  not  satisfied  with  thoir  places, 
they  frequently  return  of  their  own  accord  to  the  institution. 

lihode  Island. — Ho  nujst. 

Questions  LXXII. 

If  this  power  over  the  indentured  bolonprs  to  the  institution, 
does  a  like  power  over  those  who  have  gone  out  in  other  wuy» 
belong  to  it  also? 


ANRWBnn. 

Connecticut. — It  docs  in  respect  to  all  who  leave  on  their  pnrolo 
of  honor. 

Illinois. — Wo  hold  the  power  of  guardianship  over  those  out 
on  "  tickets-of-U<ave." 

Maine, — It  does,  except  in  cnsos  of  unconditional  dl»chnrgc. 

Man/land, — It  does  not  belong  to  the  institution. 

Massachtuietta, — State  licform  School:  If  the  boy  ii  released  on 


APPENDIX. 


457 


probation,  it  does.  Nautical  Branch:  Not  over  those  who  go  to 
sea.     Girls'  School:  The  institution  does  not  possess  this  power. 

Michigan. — The  board  of  control  reserve  the  right  of  control 
over  those  who  are  granted  "  leave  of  absence." 

Missouri, — In  practice,  in  our  institution,  the  guardianship  of 
the  board  of  managers  ceases  when  the  child  is  delivered  into  the 
custody  of  its  parent,  or  other  guardian.  It  is  a  legal  question 
whether  the  board  have  any  further  authority  over  a  child  who 
has  been  conditionally  released  from  the  house  of  refuge.  I  am 
of  the  opinion  that  every  discharge  should  bo  conditional;  in  other 
words,  that  every  inmate  of  the  house  of  refuge  should  be  let  out 
when  the  proper  time  arrives  under  indenture.  Boys  from  18  to 
20  years  of  age  may  properly  form  an  exception  to  the  rule,  when 
discharged  as  reformed. 

Ohio. — It  does  not  possess  this  power.  Their  release  makes  a 
new  commitment  necessary,  if  returned. 

Pennsiflvania. — White  and  colored:  Those  given  up  to  their 
friends  are  absolutely  discharged,  and  the  institution  has  no  fur- 
ther claim  upon  them. 

lihode  Island. — Yes,  except  in  respect  to  those  discharged  as 
reformed,  or  upon  expiration  of  sentence. 


458 


APPENDIX. 


V.  ADMINISTRATION  OF  CRIMINAL  JUSTICE. 

Question  I. 

What  is  the  judicial  system  of  your  state?  What  are  the 
several  classes  of  courts,  their  jurisdiction  and  powers? 

Answers. 
Massachusetts! 

Geokoe  W.  Seakle,  Esq. — The  criminal  judicial  system  of 
Massachusetts  consists  primarily  of  police  courts,  trial  justices 
and  justices  of  the  peace;  next  of  the  superior  court;  and  lastly 
the  "supremo  judicial  court." 

There  are  fourteen  counties  in  the  state.  Both  the  supremo 
and  superior  are  state  courts,  with  terms  for  the  dirterent  counties. 
Some  of  the  larger  cities  have  police  courts;  Avhile  the  smaller 
cities  and  the  towns  have  trial  justices,  having  final  jurisdiction  in 
smaller  cases  and  preliminary  jurisdiction  in  cases  of  larger  mag- 
nitude. The  superior  court  has  juris«liction  of  all  criminal  cases, 
except  capital  ones,  beyond  the  jurisdiction  of  trial  justices.  The 
juries  in  the  superior  and  supremo  court  pass  only  upon  the  ques- 
tion of  guilt  or  innocence,  sentence  by  the  court  folUtws  conviction 
by  the  jury.  Most  of  the  sentences  are  fixed  by  statutes,  with  a 
largo  range  between  the  mininiitm  and  the  Dnixftiiiim  of  j)unish- 
ments.  An  appeal  to  the  superior  court  in  all  cases  lies  from  a 
final  conviction  by  a  trial  justice.  All  law  questions  ruled  against 
a  prisoner  in  the  superior  court  can  go  to  the  "suprenie  court  for 
the  commonwealth"  on  a  bill  of  exceptions.  This  last  named 
court  is  the  supremo  judicial  court  sitting  in  full  bench  for  hearing 
law  questions  only. 

All  ea[)ital  eases  aro  tried  before  the  suprenie  court  with  a  jiny. 
The  indictments  in  capital  cases  are  foiuid  by  the  grtiud  jiu'y  for 
the  respective  counties,  and  aro  in  the  first  instance  returned  into 
the  superior  court,  and  by  that  court  c(>rtified  to  the  supreme 
judicial  court.  In  Sutlolk  county  there  is  a  branch  of  tlu«  superior 
court,  known  as  the  superior  court  ftu*  criminal  IniNiness,  devoted 
exclusivelv  to  criminid  business,  and  presided  over  by  jndges  of 
the  superior  court  in  rotation.  In  all  other  counties  there  aro 
either  criminal  terms,  or  elsi«  the  civil  and  criniinal  Itusiness  is 
disposed  of  at  diilerent  periods  in  thu  siuuu  term. 

New  ITampshiro  : 
lion.  H.  I).  Ukix. — The  courts  of  erinnnal  jurisdiction  in  New 
Ilampshiro  are  thu  supruuto  judicial  court,  consiciting  oi  a  chief 


APPENDIX. 


459 


justice  and  five  associate  justices;  police  courts  in  the  cities  and  a 
few  larger  towns,  held  by  one  justice  ;  and  justices  of  the  peace. 
These  tribunals  are  also  the  only  courts  of  civil  jurisdiction,  except 
the  courts  of  probate. 

Trial  terms  of  the  supreme  judicial  court  are  held,  generally 
twice  a  year  in  each  county,  by  one  of  the  justices;  except  in  capi- 
tal cases,  when  two  are  required  to  be  present. 

Exceptions  may  be  taken  to  any  rulings  of  tlie  presiding  judge 
at  a  trial  term,  and  transferred  for  decision  to  the  law  terms,  which 
are  held  twice  a  year  in  each  of  the  four  districts  into  which  the 
state  is  divided.  The  decisions  there  upon  the  exceptions  are 
final,  but  new  trials  are  awar<led  in  any  case  of  mis-trial. 

The  jurisdiction  of  the  supremo  judicial  court  extends  to  all 
criminal  cases,  above  the  jurisdiction  of  a  justice  of  the  peace,  to 
try  and  determine. 

Police  courts  and  justices  of  the  peace  have  authority  to  try  and 
decide  in  cases  of  i)etty  larceny,  assault  and  battery,  and  in  cases 
known  as  police  offences,  without  a  jury;  but  sul)ject  in  all  cases 
to  an  appeal  to  the  supreme  judicial  court,  where  the  cases  may 
be  tried  by  a  jury. 

Connecticut : 

Walter  Pitkin,  Esq. — The  judicial  power  of  the  state  of  Con- 
necticut, except  in  cases  of  impeachment,  is  vested  l)y  the  consti- 
tution in  a  'Supreme  Court  of  Errors,  a  Superior  Court,  Justices  of 
the  Peace,  "and  such  inferior  courts  as  the  general  asst-nilily  shall, 
from  time  to  time,  ordain  and  cstai)lish."  Of  the  latter  class  there 
have  been  established  Courts  of  Probate,  a  City  and  a  Police  Court, 
in  each  of  the  cities  of  Hartford,  New  Haven,  New  London,  Nor- 
wich iind  Bridgeport,  and  a  city  court  in  the  cities  of  ^Vaterbury 
and  Middletown. 

The  constitution,  powers  and  jurisdiction  of  these  tribunals,  as 
defined  by  law,  are  respectively  as  follows : 

The  Supreme  Court  of  Errors  consists  of  one  chief  judge  and 
four  associate  judges,  who  are  also  judges  of  the  suiterior  court. 
It  has"  final  and  conclusive  jurisdiction  of  all  matters  lirought  by 
way  of  error  or  complaint  from  juilgmeiits  or  decrees  of  tlK»  supe- 
rior court  in  matters  of  law  or  ecpiity,  wherein  the  rules  of  law  or 
l)rineiple8  of  cjpiity  appear  from  the  files,  records,  or  exhibits  of 
said  court  to  have  been  mistakenly  or  erroneously  a(ljti(lge«l  or 
detenninod." 

The  Superior  Court  consists  of  nine  judges,  including  llio  judges 
of  the  supreme  court.  Three  terms  are  holden  aiinnally  in  each 
county,  but  the  sanui  judge  may  not  preside  at  two  Nuecessivo 
torniH  in  the  same  county.     It  hat* 

(a.)  Civil  jurisdiction:  I,  Original,  of  all  suits  for  relief  in 
e((uity ;  of  all  suits  at  law  in  which  the  matter  in  demand  exceeds 
the  Mum  of  (IdO,  or  which  aro  to  deterniinu  the  title  to  land.     2. 


•^1 


460 


APPENDIX. 


Appellate,  of  judgments  or  decrees  of  probate  and  city  courts,  and 
of  justices  of  the  peace,  except  in  cases  of  summary  process. 

(b.)  Criminal  jurisdiction:  1.  Original,  of  all  criminal  causes 
(and  exclusively  of  those  of  which  the  penalty  exceeds  a  fine  of  $7, 
or  imprisonment  for  thirty  (30)  days),  except  in  the  cities  wliere 
police  courts  have  been  established  (see  infra  ••  Police  Courts"). 
2.  Appellate,  of  judgments  of  justices  of  the  peace  and  police 
courts,  except  for  the  crimes  of  drunkenness  and  profane  swearing, 
and  Sabbath  breaking. 

In  trials  for  offences  punishable  by  death,  the  judge  holding 
court  is  required  to  call  in  one  of  the  judges  of  the  supreme  court, 
who  shall  preside  at  the  trial  and  have  a  casting  vote  on  all  ques- 
tions to  bo  decided  by  the  court. 

Justices  of  the  Peace  have  exclusive  cognizance  of  all  civil 
suits  in  which  the  debt,  trespass,  damage,  or  matter  in  demand 
does  not  exceed  the  sum  of  $50  (except  in  the  cities  where  police 
courts  have  been  established,  see  infra  police  courts),  except 
actions  of  disseisin  concurrently  with  the  superior  court.  They 
have  original  jurisdiction  of  all  oflcnccs  and  crimes  punishable 
by  fine  not  exceeding  $7,  or  imprisonment  in  a  common  jail  not 
exceeding  thirty  «iays,  or  by  such  tine  or  imprisonment  l)oth 
(except  in  the  cities  where  police  courts  have  been  established,  see 
infra  "  police  courts." ) 

This  is  the  extent  of  a  justice's  final  jurisdiction  in  criminal 
matters,  but  he  may  entertain  complaints  for  crimes  of  which  the 
penalty  may  exceed  and  may  fall  within  these  limits,  binding  the 
accused  to  ans.wor  over  to  the  superior  court  if  his  oftenoo  requires 
a  greater  punishment,  otherwise  proceeding  to  judgment. 

The  duties  of  Probate  Courts  are  too  obvious  to  need  enumera- 
tion. 

City  Courts  are  composed  of  three  judges,  of  whom  the  chief 
judge  is  called  "  recorder."  They  have  a  civil  jurisdiction  extend- 
ing, generally,  to  all  causes  of  action  arising  within  the  city  lim- 
its, and  where  at  least  one  of  the  parties  must  reside.  In  some 
particulars  the  powers  of  these  courts  vary  in  the  different  cities, 
l)ut  these  details  are  believed  to  be  unimportant  for  the  purposes 
of  this  statement. 

The  powers  of  those  courts  arc  not  exclusive,  so  that  justices  and 
the  superior  court  retain  their  respective  jurisdictions  in  civil  mat 
tors  as  well  in  the  cities  as  elsewhere. 

An  ai)peal  lies  from  the  judgments  of  those  courts  to  the  supe- 
rior court. 

The  Police  Courts  have,  in  addition  to  the  ordinary  criminal 
jurisdiction  of  justices  of  the  peace,  the  exclusive  power  to  hear 
and  to  d(>lerniine  charges  for  criuios  and  misdemeaitois  arising 
within  the  limits  of  their  rospoetivo  cities,  the  punishment  of 
which  as  prescribed  by  law  does  not  exceed  a  fine  of  $200,  or  six 
months'  imprisonment  in  jail  or  workhouse,  or  such  fine  and 
imprisonment  both.     An  appeal  lies  from  all  judgments  (except 


legal 


APPENDIX. 


461 


iMK 


drnnkcuncss,  profane  swearing,  and  Sabbath-breaking),  to  the 
superior  court. 


New  Jersey: 

CoRTLANDT  Parker,  Esq. — The  state  of  New  Jersey  has  de- 
parted less  from  the  common  law  in  her  judicial  system,  criminal 
law,  civil  practice,  and,  in  fact,  throughout  her  whole  system  of 
municipal  law,  than  probably  any  other  state,  certainly  than  any 
state  among  those  known  as  northern.  And  those  among  her 
citizens,  engaged  in  the  administration  of  justice  and  pursuits 
ancillary  thereto,  consider  this  fact  as  the  cause  of  what  they 
regard  as  her  great  superiority  over  most  others  in  the  thorough- 
ness, certainty,  integrity  and  promptness  with  which  justice  is 
here  administered. 

There  are,  in  New  Jersey  the  following  courts  :  I  shall  men- 
tion first  those  of  civil  jurisdiction,  then  those  which  regulate  the 
estates  of  deceased  persons,  lastly  those  whose  duties  regard  the 
punishment  of  crime.  And  I  shall  begin  with  the  humblest,  and 
review  them  in  order  of  authority. 

First. — Courts  of  civil  jurisdiction  are  the  following: 

I.  Courts  of  small  causes  held  before  justices  of  the  peace,  hav- 
ing jurisdiction  over  personal  actions,  not  including  slander  and 
assault,  involving  no  more  than  one  hundred  dollars. 

II.  The  common  pleas,  in  each  county  composed  of  five  judges, 
and  of  which,  when  ho  is  present,  a  justice  of  the  supreme  court 
is  president.  This  court  has  jurisdiction  of  all  civil  controversies 
not  involving  the  title  to  land,  and  has  besides  an  appellate  juris- 
diction over  courts  of  small  causes. 

The  county  circuit  courts,  held  by  justices  of  the  supremo  court, 
having  original  jurisdiction  for  the  county  of  all  civil  controver- 
sies, and  the  power  to  review  by  certiorari  and  writ  of  error,  all 
legal  errors  in  ji  dgments  rendered  by  cither  of  courts  before 
mentioned. 

IV.  The  supremo  court,  composed  of  seven  judges,  having  the 
same  jurisdiction,  both  civil  and  criminal,  possessed  by  the  king's 
bench  in  England,  both  original  and  appellate;  exercising  their 
original  jurisdiction  by  trying  causes  cithoratbar  or  in  the  various 
counties  where  each  judge  goes  on  circuit,  ond  their  appellate  by 
any  for  that  purpose  known  to  the  common  law,  superintending 
all  inferior  courts  and  oiiicial  persons. 

V.  The  court  of  chancery  held  by  the  chancellor,  having  com- 
plete equity  jurisdiction. 

VI.  The  court  of  errors  and  appeals,  composed  of  the  chancellor, 
the  seven  judges  of  the  supreme  court,  and  six  associate  ju<lges, 
and  having  jurisdiction,  ai>pellate  only,  in  all  causes  both  at  law 
and  in  equity. 

Second. — Courts  for  the  regulation  of  estates  of  deceased 
persons,  guardianship,  &u.,  are: 


462 


APPENDIX. 


I.  The  surrogate  in  each  county. 

II.  Orphans*  courts,  composed  of  the  judges  of  the  common 
pleas  in  each  county. 

III.  The  prorogation  court,  held  by  the  chancellor,  sitting  as 
ordinary. 

Third. — Courts  whose  duties  involve  the  punishment  of  crime, 
are: 

I.  Justices  of  the  peace,  who  receive  complaints,  and  arrest  and 
secure  offenders  by  taking  bail  or  commitment. 

II.  Courts  of  two  justices,  for  the  ti'ial  of  larceny  of  goods  under 
the  value  of  $20. 

III.  The  quarter  sessions,  composed  of  the  judges  of  the  common 
pleas,  having  jurisdiction  over  crimes  less  than  felony  at  common 
law. 

IV.  Oyer  and  terminer,  composed  of  one  or  more  justices  of 
the  supreme  court,  and  at  least  one  judge  of  the  common  pleas, 
having  jurisdiction  of  all  crimes  whatever. 

V.  The  supreme  court,  into  which  criminal  causes  may  be 
removed  and  by  whose  judges  as  such  they  may  be  tried,  Avhich 
likewise  possesses  jurisdiction  to  review  judgments  against  crim- 
inals by  writ  of  error  :  and  lastly, 

VI.  The  court  of  errors  and  appeals,  where  «??  judgments  and  de- 
crees may  be  reviewed. 

John  F.  Heoeman,  Esq. — The  judicial  system  of  this  state  is 
based  upon  the  common  law,  and  retaius  more  of  that  character 
than  any  other  state  in  the  union,  perhaps.  Wo  have  the  common 
law  courts,  and  but  few  that  may  bo  regarded  purely  as  the 
creatures  of  the  statute.  As  their  jurisdiction  and  powers  are  so 
pre-eminently  common  law,  it  is  useless  to  define  them  here. 

Pennsylvania: 

J.  J.  ■  Bahclay,  Esq. — The  administration  of  criminal  law  in 
Pennsylvania  is  vested  in  the  several  courts  of  common  pleas  of  the 
several  counties  of  the  state,  whosojudges  are  justices  of  the  court 
of  oyer  and  terminer  and  quarter  sessions.  The  jurisdiction  of 
these  courts  is  co-extensive  with  the  respective  judicial  districts, 
which  nia}'  or  nniy  not  include  more  than  one  county,  according  to 
legislative  enactment.  Their  powers  are  mostample,tor  these  courts 
may  try  all  classes  uf  criminals  and  every  grade  of  crime.  The 
judges  of  the  supreme  court  may,  in  any  judicial  district  of  the 
state,  hold  a  court  of  oyer  and  terminer,  but  in  practice  this  power 
is  seldom  exercised. 

In  all  eases,  except  murder  in  the  first  and  second  degree,  and 
manslaughter,  the  decisions  of  the  lower  courts  are  final.  In  the 
oxcopted  cases,  writs  of  error  are  allowed,  but  ouly  on  special 
leave  granted  by  one  of  the  justices  of  the  suprom,o  court,  upon 
tuotion  and  cause  shown  ;  and  then  the  cause  is  removed  to  tho 


APPENDIX. 


463 


supreme  court  for  final  adjudication,  upon  questions  of  law  and 
fact,  in  the  usual  method.  Writs  of  certiorari  may  be  sued  out 
in  all  criminul  cases,  but  of  course  the  record  alone  is  removed  to 
the  court  of  lust  resort  and  alone  is  the  subject  of  consideration. 

Maryland : 

A.  Sterling,  Jr.,  Esq. — The  state  is  divided  into  circuits  pre- 
sided over  by  one  judge  each,  except  in  Baltimore,  where  there 
are  four  courts  with  one  judge  each.  There  is  a  court  of  appeals 
with  five  judges.  The  circuit  courts  possess  general,  common  law 
and  chancery  jurisdiction,  the  chancery  side  of  the  court  being 
separate  from  the  common  law  side,  though  in  the  same  judge. 

The  jurisdiction  of  the  courts  in  Baltimore  is  regulated  chiefly 
by  the  amount  of  money  sued  for,  as  over  or  under  $1,000,  but 
there  is  one  court  entirely  a  chancery  court,  and  one  court  entirely 
a  criminal  court. 

Justices  of  the  peace  have  civil  jurisdiction  to  the  amount  of 
$100,  and  the  usual  jurisdiction  of  the  peace,  arrest  and  holding 
to  bail.  Their  civil  jurisdiction  is  subject  to  appeal  to  the  circuit 
court,  and  to  the  court  of  common  pleas  in  Baltimore.  They  have 
the  power  to  try  and  fine,  in  some  statutory  cases,  for  misde- 
meanors, as  breach  of  municipal  ordinances,  and  some  other  cases. 

There  is  in  each  county  and  the  city  of  Baltimore,  a  court  of 
three  judges,  who  may  be  laymen,  which  exercises  the  probate 
and  testamentiiry  jurisdiction.  The  fourth  article  of  the  state  con. 
stitution  of  18G4,  will  explain  this  more  fully. 

Kentucky  : 

E.  L.  Van  Winkle,  Esq. — Our  judicial  system  is  that  which 
prevailed  in  the  mother  country — the  common  law  as  administered 
by  common  law  judges,  and  the  civil  law  as  modified  and  adminis- 
tered by  courts  of  equity ;  ihe  only  material  difference  is  the 
union  of  both  jurisdictions  in  the  same  officer. 

The  jury  system  and  forms  of  procedure  known  to  the  co»n- 
mon  law  are,  in  i;ho  main,  preserved  in  the  trial  of  all  cases  of 
conunoii  law  jurisdiction.  Wo  have  a  code  regulating  proceed- 
ings in  civil  and  criminal  cases,  much  resembling  that  of  the  state 
of  New  York,  in  its  main  features,  and  preserving  the  right  to  a 
jury  in  all  cases  where  that  right  existed  at  the  common  law. 

Onr  courts  consist  of  those  of  limited  and  general  jurisdiction. 
First,  justices  of  the  peace  are  elected  in  each  election  precinct  of 
the  various  counties  of  the  state ;  those  justices  hold  quarterly 
terms  within  their  respective  districts,  and  have  jurisdiction  of 
civil  controversies  when  the  amount  in  contest  does  not  exceed 
fifty  dollars,  and  when  the  title  to  real  estate  is  not  involved.  They 
also  have  jurisdiction  in  penal  cases  where  the  punishment  io  a  fine 
not  exceeding  sixteen  dollars. 

County  judges  are  olcottsd  by  the  county,  and  besides  having 
charge  of  the  fiscal  affairs  of  the  county,  they  huvo  the  supervision 


464 


APPENDIX. 


of  roads  and  the  appointment  of  guardians  and  administrators,  to- 
gether with  the  management  of  estates.  They  hold  quarterly  terms, 
in  which  all  matters  of  a  civil  nature,  where  the  amount  iu  contro- 
versy docs  not  exceed  one  hundred  dollars,  may  be  adjudicated. 
These  courts  also  have  appellate  jurisdiction  over  the  judgments 
of  the  justices  of  the  peace  They  also  have  jurisdiction  of  all 
penal  oiienccs  where  the  punishment  is  a  fine  not  exceeding  one 
hundred  dollars. 

In  all  cases  of  common  law  jurisdiction  which  arise  in  these 
courts  of  limited  jurisdiction,  either  party  is  entitled  to  a  jury, 
when  the  matter  in  controversy  exceeds  sixteen  dollars  in  value. 

The  county  judge  or  justices  may,  at  any  time,  sit  as  a  prelimi- 
nary court  to  bind  persons  accused  of  crime  for  their  appearance 
before  the  circuit  court  for  final  trial,  and  in  default  of  bail  may 
commit. 

The  circuit  courts  are  held  by  circuit  judges,  elected  bj'^  their 
respective  districts,  of  which  we  have  fifteen  iu  the  state.  These 
courts  have  general  jurisdiction  of  all  subjects  of  judicial  cogni- 
zance, both  civil  and  criminal,  as  well  as  appellate  jurisdiction  of 
the  judgments  of  the  quarterly  courts  held  liy  the  county  judges. 

Over  all,  we  have  an  appellate  court  consisting  of  four  judges, 
elected  by  the  people  of  the  state,  whose  revisory  power  extends 
to  all  judgments  of  the  circuit  courts,  civil  and  criminal.  This 
revisory  power  is  confined,  in  the  main,  to  errors  of  law,  and  in 
criminal  cases,  is  somewhat  restricted. 

Indiana: 

Hon.  Conrad  Baker. — The  judicial  system  of  Indiana  comprises 
the  following  courts,  viz: 

First,  a  supreme  court,  consisting  of  four  judges  elected  by  the 
people  for  six  years,  and  having  appellate  jurisdiction  in  civil  and 
criminal  cases  throughout  the  state. 

The  constitution  provides  that  the  judicial  power  of  the  state 
shall  be  vested  in  a  supreme  court,  in  circuit  courts,  and  in  such 
inferior  cf)iu't8  as  the  general  assembly  may  establish. 

The  legislature  has  divided  the  ninety-one  counties  of  the  state 
into  fifteen  circuits.  Each  circuit  has  one  judge,  who  is  elected 
by  the  people  for  six  years,  and  a  circuit  court  is  held  in  each 
county  twice  iu  every  year. 

The  legislature  has  also  established  courts  of  common  pleas,  and 
for  this  purpose  has  divided  the  state  into  twenty-one  districts.  A 
judge  is  elected  by  the  people  for  each  district  for  the  term  of  four 
years,  and  he  holds  three  terms  each  year  in  each  county  of  his 
district. 

The  circuit  court  has  jurisdiction  of  felonies,  but  not  of  niisdc- 
meanors.  Prosecutions  in  the  circuit  court  are  by  indictment. 
The  circuit  court  has  also  jurisdiction  of  all  civil  actions.  The 
courts  of  common  pleas  have  jurisdiction  of  mi&dcmcanors,  which 


APPENDIX. 


465 


are  prosecuted  by  information,  filed  by  the  prosecuting  attorney, 
and  based  on  an  affidavit  charging  the  offence. 

This  court  has  concunc^nt  jurisdiction  with  the  circuit  court  of 
felonies,  not  punishable  with  death,  where  the  accused  is  in  custody 
on  charge  of  felony,  and  no  indictment  has  been  found  in  the  cir- 
cuit court,  or  where  the  person  charged  is  on  bail,  no  indictment 
having  been  found,  and  voluntarily,  in  writing,  submits  to  the 
jurisdiction  of  the  court. 

The  court  of  common  pleas  has  also  probate  jurisdiction,  and 
has  concurrent  jurisdiction  with  the  circuit  court  in  nearly  all  civil 
actions. 


Michigan: 

HovEY  K.  Clarke,  Esq. — The  judicial  system  in  the  state  of 
Michigan  is  substantially  that  of  the  common  law  of  Great  Britain. 
The  courts  in  which  jurisdiction  of  criminal  cases  is  vested  are: 
1.  A  circuit  court  in  each  county,  having  general  civil  and  criminal 
jurisdiction,  held  by  a  single  "  circuit  judge."  2.  The  recorder's 
court  for  the  city  of  Detroit,  and  three  courts  held  by  justices  of 
the  peace. 

The  jurisdiction  of  the  circuit  courts  embraces  all  cases  within 
the  county,  except  those  within  the  city  of  Detroit,  and  those 
cognizable  by  justices  of  the  peace.  The  jurisdiction  of  the 
recorder's  court  for  the  city  of  Detroit  embraces  all  cases  arising 
within  the  city,  with  a  like  exception;  and  the  jurisdiction  of  jus- 
tices of  the  peace  extends  to  the  following  cases:  1.  Larceny  not 
charged  as  a  second  offence,  and  when  the  value  of  the  property 
does  not  exceed  twenty-five  dollars.  2,  Assault  and  battery  not 
committed  riotously,  nor  upon  a  public  officer,  nor  with  intent  to 
commit  any  other  offence.  3.  Charges  of  willi'ully  destroying  or 
injuring  mile  boards  or  guide  posts.  4.  Charges  of  maliciously 
injuring  the  cattle  of  another,  or  destroying  the  personal  property 
of  another,  Avhen  the  injury  does  not  exceed  twenty-five  dollars. 
5.  Charges  of  maliciously  injuring  or  removing  monuments  of 
boundaries,  or  defacing  buildings,  or  extinguishing  lamps,  injuring 
lamp  posts  or  railings,  or  any  bridge,  street  or  passage.  6. 
Charges  for  malicious  trespassing  on  land,  or  any  wharf  or  land- 
ing place,  and  carrying  away  goods  to  the  value  of  five  dollars. 

7.  Charges  of  malicious  trespasses  in  gardens,  orchards,  &c.;  and 

8.  All  other  otlences  punishable  by  fine  not  exceeding  one  hun- 
dred dollars,  or  by  imprisuiunont  in  the  county  jail  not  exceeding 
three  months,  or  both. 

Question  II. 

Are  the  judges  appointed  or  elected  ?  If  elected,  how  long  has 
this  system  prevailed?  What  is  found  to  be  its  operation — fav- 
oral»le  or  unfavorable  to  the  integrity  and  independence  of  the 
judiciary? 

[Assein.  No.  35.]  80 


466 


APPENDIX. 


Answers. 


Musstichusctls: 


Gnoutir,  VV.  Skaulk,  Ivsq. — The  judfrosof  the  supromo  court  niul 
superior  court  iiro  iippointcd  to  hold  ollico  duriiijj;  j^ood  hcdiavior  on 
the  uouiiualioii  of  tlio  executive,  wiucli  nomiuiitiou  is  coiitiiiued  l>y 
the  cxcutive  council.  Trial  Justices  luid  police  justices  are  also 
appointed  hy  the  ji'overnor  tliuiny;  jj^ood  heliavior.  This  unlimited 
term  of  Judicial  otKce  has,  on  the  one  hand,  worke(l  <'vil  results  in 
keeping  upon  the  hench  men  who  have  outlived  their  usefulness 
to  the  puldic  and  their  accept  ihility  to  the  har;  and  this  lift'  tenme 
has  occasjoually  made  them  arhritrary  in  their  c(uiduct  and  rude 
in  tlieir  manners.  On  the  other  hand,  it  has  furnished  men  of 
ninlity  and  inteijrity,  iiud  <renei'ally  it  has  kept  them(|uite  too  free 
from  po|>uIiir  impulscw.  There  is,  however,  I  believe,  litth'  or  no 
disiiosition  to  attempt  the  experinu'ut  of  an  elective  Judii'iaiT.  A 
limited  tenuie,  of  frouj  tive  to  ten  years,  was  favored  hy  sonui  in 
the  constitutional  convention  of  lHr).'J,  hut  tlu^  vast  majority  were 
in  fav(n'  of  tin*  life  Icmu'c.  This  life  system  is  fJKUi^lit  hy  the  hulk 
of  our  peo|)le  to  t'avor  judicial  inlejjrity  and  independence.  There 
is  undoiililcdly  some  ioundation  for  tiiese  opinions,  hut  less  than 
is  claimed  for  th(>m.  Judiciiil  otlicesan^  Kon^ifht  in  the  tirst  instance 
hy  intercstetl  parlies,  and  they  are  sometinuvs  confiM'red  as  ri>\vavds 
ft)r  \)ai'ty  si-rviccs,  or  are  inllucnced  hy  personal  fi'ieudshlps,  as 
well  as  for  hi;;h  professionid  chai'aeter  and  standin 


The  (dd  "common  pleas''  court  was  aholished  in  IH.'i?,  for  the 
sake  of  riddin*;  the  har  and  tlu^  people  of  unpopular  and  inconipi>- 
tent  iud<;cs.  Had  it  been  thonu'ht  that  there  was  const!  utional 
power  to  do  so,  there  is  som(>  ;j;ronnd  for  supposini);  that  the 
supreme  Judii'ial  court  would  have  shared  the  sanu>  fate,  not,  how- 
ever, so  much  fr()m  its  inc(nnpctency  as  fnnn  desire  of  (dianjre  in 
its  jnd;;cs  and  a  dissatisfaction  with  the  intoleral>lc  delays  of  the 
court.  Diiatoriucss  is  ti  defect  in  all  the  criminal  courts.  My 
opinion  is  that  th(<  limited  tenures  of  the  judicial  ollicc  will  yet  he 
estal)UN!M'd  in  tuis  state, 

New  Ilampshire: 
lion.  S.  I).  ni;i,i,. — The  jndj;es  of  the  supreme  judicial  court 
and  of  I  lie  polici'  coui'ls,  arcnippointed  hy  the  ^rovcrnor  and  coun- 
cil, and  hold  tlieir  otlices  iioinhidlh/  duriiij;  \nnn\  lteliavi(U',  In 
t.M.'tO,  a  (iiustilutional  conventi(Ui  adopttMl  an  amendment  of  the 
con.stitulitin.  nuikiu;>- Jiid^^-s  cli^'ilde  hy  popular  vol(^  lor  limited 
terms,  hut  it  was  rej«'cl»'<l  l»y  tin*  i)eople. 

(Niiuieetlcnf : 
W.M.ri.i;  iMruiN,  Ks(/. — The  jmljui's  of  the  HUpreine  and  supe- 
rior courts  are  appointc(l  l»y  a  I'oncnrrent  voli>  of  ihe  I  wo  hranehes 
of  the  liCiiinlalure,  each  for  a  term  of  eight  years.     This  unxlv  of 


APPENDIX. 


< 


46T 


nppointmoiit  has  provallcd  since  tho  adoption  of  iho  iirosont  con- 
stitution (1S1«);  hut  until  tho  year  IHf)!),  whon  tiic  mI)()V»^  limita- 
tion was  cMtahlishod,  the  tenure  of  otKee  was  durinii^  ^ood  hehii- 
vior,  or  until  the  incunihent  reaeluMl  the  aj^e  of  s(n'(>nly  years. 
Tho  Judiciary  of  Coiuieeticnt  has  rarely  been  suspected  of  a  want 
of  "  inte<i;rity  ''  or  "  independence,"  and  its  earlier  annals  espe- 
cially contain  the  names  of  men  of  pre-eminent  charaeler  and 
talent.  While,  therefore,  experience  woidd  impute  no  necrssary 
disadvantat^o  in  these  respects  to  our  mi'f/toil.  of  selecting  Judfj^os 
by  popidar  election  rating'  than  by  executive  appointnieiil  (though 
the  lat((«r  is  uncpiestionaldy  the  more  prmlent  system),  it  cannot 
be  deniiMi  that  tho  substitution  oi  \x  nhnrt  Imiinf  ojfici'  for  a  temiro 
virtually  for  life,  is  rej^anh'd  by  our  wis(^st  men  as  an  unfortunate 
innovalion.  It  is  believetl  that  the  opinion  of  the  profession  <f»'n« 
enUly,  certainly  tho  weight  of  its  opinion,  wasori;jfinally,  and  still 
is,  adverse  to  such  a  change,  as  unwise  and  of  pernicious  t(<nden(\y. 

New  Jersey: 

CoHTLANDT  I'AiiKKit,  KsQ. — The  judfTcs  are  vari(>usly  appointed. 
Justices  of  the  peac»>  arc*  elect «mI,  each  for  tiv»!  years,  not  moni 
than  live  in  each  township.  Jud<j;es  of  the  common  pleas  arit 
appointed  by  tln^  Legislature  in  joint  meetin*;,  each  for  live  years, 
(Uie  beinji^  elected  each  year.  .lustices  «)f  the  siipn^me  court,  the 
chancellor  and  thu  judges  of  th«^  court  of  errors  and  apptals  are 
appointed,  the  last  named  each  for  six  years,  but  so  that  one  new 
Jud|^e  takes  his  seat  each  yi'ar;  the  chancellor  and  justices  of  the 
suprenn^  court  each  for  sev(>n  years  -all  by  the  jj^overnor,  with  the 
advice  and  c'onstMit  of  the  senate. 

The  (de*'tive  system,  stronj^ly  advocatiid  in  the  const  it  ulional 
convention  of  1811,  was  rejectc'd,  except  as  ri';jjar(Is  justices  of 
the  p(>aee.  While  their  restrictiul  jurisdiction  prevents  its  doin^ 
\\\\m\  harm,  th(>  operation  of  tln^  system  has  b(>en,  I  think,  siillici- 
ently  nnfavoraItU*  to  satisfy  the  public  mind  that  it  would  be 
unwise  to  ado[>t  this  modt^  of  appointment  tor  any  other  jii(l;;:es. 

Sm'ro;;at(<s,  whosi^  duties  are  mainly  ministerial  niiij  cxpartc^  in 
their  character,  are  likewise  elected,  on<'  for  each  <'onnly,  and  hold 
otll(H>  live  years.  All  lestainenlary  causes  and  other  lili;.,^ation  in 
this  departUKMit  conn*  before  the  or|dian's  court,  and  ^o  thence  by 
appeal  to  the  ordinary. 

.loiiN  K.  IIk(1k:m.\n,  Ksi^  —Tln^  Jinl</is'  an'  ap/Kiinfnl :  JiisfirrM 
of  thv  pi'itrr  alone  are  i  Iwlcd,  'J'he  tdection  of  justices  seems  to 
work  well. 

PeunMylvauia: 
J.  J.    Hai«!I,av,    Ks<i. — The  juiI^cn  of  the  supretne  eonrl  are 
elected  for  terms  of  llfteen  years,  tin*  president  and  law  jud;;esof 
the  coimnou  pleas  for  ten  years,  and  thu  assoc^iate  jiidji^es,  not 
learned  in  the  law,  for  tiv«»  years, 


■iV 


'^■-n 


468 


APPENDIX. 


The  system  has  thus  fjir  worked  well,  and  will  probably  con- 
tinue so  to  do  as  long  as  the  question  of  the  re-election  is  not 
made  a  political  one. 

Maryland: 
A.  Sterling,  Jr.,  Esq. — Judges  are  elected.  This  has  been  the 
mode  since  1850.  The  term  of  service  is  fifteen  years.  I  think 
the  opinion  of  the  profession  is  adverse  to  the  elective  system,  but 
with  the  present  term  of  service  the  evils  are  modified,  justice  is 
made  loss  tedious  than  of  old,  and  the  bench  is  free  from  special 
.complaint,  but  the  certainty  of  the  law  is  diminished,  as  it  has 
been  all  over  the  country,  by  the  change  of  system.  The  relative 
ability  of  the  judges  is,  I  think,  about  the  same  as  ever.  In  the 
court  of  appeals  and  in  Baltimore,  the  salary  is  too  small  to  induce 
persons  of  largo  practice  to  take  the  places,  and,  while  our  judges 
are  good,  wo  are  indebted  much  to  special  good  fortune  and  the 
fact  that  two  out  of  the  four  arc  young  men,  that  wo  arc  as  well 
ott'  as  we  are.     No  salary  is  over  $3,000. 

Kentucky: 

E.  L.  ^^\N  Winkle,  Esq. — As  already  stated,  our  judiciary  is 
cloctivr,  which  practice  has  prevailed  for  fifteen  years.  \ 

I  cannot  say  that  the  elective  system  has  proven  favorable  to 
the  intogrify  and  independence  of  the  judiciary ;  nor,  on  the 
other  hand,  have  any  nuuked  evils  resulted  from  the  elective  sys- 
tem, except  the  tendency  of  parties  in  making  political  services 
and  UHefulness,  rather  than  litness  and  qualifications,  the  govorii' 
ing  considerations  in  selecting  judicial  oHicers. 

Indiana: 
Hon.  Coniiai)  IUkeu. — The  judges  are  elected  by  the  people, 
..  d  have  been  since  lH/i2.     1  do  not  think  that  the  election  of 
judges  has  proved  unfavorable  to  tho  integrity  and  independence 
of  the  judienu'y. 

Michigan: 
II.  K.  (  i.AiiKK,  Khq. — All  judges  are  elected  by  the  people, 
except  when  appointed  to  till  vat^ancies.  This  Nycitem  has  pre- 
vailed since  the  year  1H51,  Its  op(>rati(>n  has  not  been  found  as 
HHliHluclory  aw  ^vas  expected.  'J'he  tliNt  years  of  the  experiment 
Heemeil  to  indicate  that  the  ehang(«  in  the  mode  of  selecting 
judges  would  l>e  fouu<l  safe,  if  not  positively  advantageous;  liut 
an  tii:<  selection  of  euudidates  Inu'iunt^  more  ami  more  subject  to 
])artisan  intluenees,  the  syHlem  has  Ixuin  regarded  with  nuich  less 
favor. 

QlKSTlON   III. 

What  are  the  punishments  iiiuiexed  to  the  several  crimes  tor- 
bidden  by  the  law?     IMease  make  your  answer  to  this  interroga- 


an 


n,  I. 


APPENDIX. 


469 


tory  full  and  complete,   embracing  all  the  violations  of  law 
recognized  as  crimes. 

Answers. 

Massachusetts: 

Geo.  W.  Searle,  IJsq. — The  punishments  are  fixed  by  legisla- 
tion and  imposed  by  the  presiding  judge,  the  jury  having  nothing 
to  do  with  it.  The  penalties  annexed  to  the  leading  crimes  are 
given  in  the  general  statutes  of  1860,  part  IX,  and  in  the  annual 
laws  for  the  subsequent  years.  As  these  are  in  the  library  of  the 
Association,  I  omit  any  enumeration  of  them. 

New  Hampshire: 

Hon.  S.  D.  Bell. — The  punishments  imposed  by  statute  for 
offences  are  tus  follows: 

Note. — S.  I.,  denotes  solitary  imprisonment. 

H.  L.,  denotes  hard  labor  in  the  state  prison. 

Y.,  denotes  years. 

N.  L.,  denotes  not  loss  than. 

N.  E.,  denotes  not  exceeding. 

$,  denotes dollars  fine. 

C.  J.,  denotes  imprisonment  in  the  county  jail. 

Treason,  s.  i.  8  y.,  h.  1.  for  life. 

Misprision  of  treason,  h.  1.  7  y.  or  $2,000. 

Fraudulent  misapplication  of  public  money  by  any  public  oflicer 
being  a  receiver  by  law,  h.  1.  n.  e.  2  y.,  o.  j.  n.  e.  1  y.  and  n.  e. 
12,000. 

Murder  of  first  degree,  death. 

Murder  of  second  degree,  s.  1.  3  y.,  h.  1.  n.  1.  7  y.,  and  n.  o.  30  y. 

Manslaughter,  n.  o.  $1,000,  or  fine  n.  1.  $500  and  o.  j.  n.  e.  1  y. 
or  s.  i.  n.  o.  0  mo.,  and  h.  1.  n.  1.  7  y.,  n.  o.  25  y. 

Rape  and  violation  of  children,  s.  i.  n,  o.  6  mo.,  and  h.  1.  n.  I.  7 
y.  and  n.  o.  30  y. 

Mayhem  and  malicious  disfiguring,  s.  1.  n.  o.  1  y.,  and  li.  1.  n.  1. 
1  y.,  n.  e.,  20  y. 

Robbery ,  s.  1.  n.  o.  0.  m.,  and  h.  1.  n.  1.  7  y.,  n.  o.  30  y. 

Assault  with  intent  to  connnlt  any  crime  punishable  by  death 
or  hard  labor  for  life,  s.  1.  n.  o.  (i  mo.,  and  h.  I.  n.  1.  1  y,,  n.  e.  10  y. 

Concealment  of  birth  of  a  bastard,  u.  i.  n.  o.  0  mo.,  h,  I.  1  to 
10  y. 

Attempt  to  procure  abortion,  e.  J.  n.  o.  1  y.,  or  n.  e.  1 1,000,  or 
Uoth. 

Attempt  to  procure,  If  quick  child,  n.  e.  $1,000  or  h.  I.  n.  I.  I 
y.,  n.  0.  10  y. 

Attentpt  to  procure,  If  death  rewtilt,  murder  in  2d  dogroe,  s.  I. 
u.  I.  3  y.,  and  h.  1.  n.  1.  7  y.,  n.  o,JJO.  y. 


470 


APPENDIX. 


Women  voluntarily  submitting  to  such  attempt,  c.  j.  n.  e.  1  y. 
n.  e.  $1,000,  or  both. 

Kidnapping,  h.  1.  n.  e.  10  y. 

Druggist  selling  poison  without  making  a  record  of  it,  $100. 

Arson,  s.  i.  n.  e.  6  mo.,  h.  1.  n.  1.  7  y.,  n.  e.  30  y. 

Malicious  burning  of  vessels,  bridges  or  other  buildings,  s.  i.  n. 
e.  6  mo  ,  h.  1.  n.  1.  2  y.,  n.  e.  20  y.  ^ 

Obstructing  railroad  tracks  where  life  is  endangered,  s.  i.  n.  e.  6 
mo.,  h.  1.  u.  1.  2  y.  or  for  life. 

Malicious  burning  stacks  of  grain,  hay,  &o.,  fences,  piles  of 
boards,  wood,  &c.,  trees  or  underwood,  h.  1.  n.  e.  1  y.,  n.  o.  3  y., 
or  1,000  and  c.  j.  n.  e.  1  y. 

Burglary,  with  intent  to  commit  a  crime,  the  punishment  of 
which  may  be  death  or  imprisonment  for  life,  s.  i.  n.  e.  G  mo.,  h. 
1.  n.  1.  5  y.  or  life. 

Burgljuy  with  intent  to  commit  other  crime  punishable  by  hard 
labor  or  to  commit  larceny,  s.  i.  n.  o.  60.  d.,  and  h.  1.  n.  1.  3  y.,  n. 
e.  10  y. 

Breaking  and  entering  in  the  night  any  office,  bank,  store,  &c., 
or  vessel,  &c.,  with  intent  to  conunit  any  crime,  punishable  by 
hard  labor,  or  to  commit  larceny,  h.  I.  n.  1.  3  y.,  n.  e.  6  y. 

Breaking  ov  entering  in  the  night  or  in  the  day  time,  breakijig 
and  entering  any  building  or  vessel  with  intent  to  commit  aiiy 
crime  punishable  by  hard  labor,  h.  1.  n.  1.  1  y.,  n.  o.  7  y. 

Breaking  or  entering  in  night,  or  in  day  breaking  and  entering 
dwelling  house,  office,  bank,  shop,  store,  warehouse,  barn,  gran- 
ary or  mill,  meeting-house,  court-house,  town-house,  college, 
academy,  schocd-houso,  or  vessel,  railroad  depot,  engine-house, 
repair  sho}),  &c.,  or  freight  or  passenger  cars,  and  committing  any 
larceny  therein,  h.  1.  n.  e.  5  v. 

Maliciously  killing,  nniinimg,  wounding,  poisoning  or  disfigur- 
ing any  horse,  cattle,  sheep  or  swine,  witli  intent  to  injure  the 
owner,  h.  1.  n.  1.  1  y.,  n.  e.  3  y.,  or  n.  e.  $1,000  and  c.  j.  n.  e.  1  y. 

Larceny  from  the  person  of  another,  h.  1.  n.  1.  1  y.,  n.  e.  7  y. 

Htealing  any  horse,  nuile,  cattle,  sheep  or  swine,  h.  I.  u.  1.  3  y., 
u.  e.  7  y. 

Stealing  any  money,  biuikbills,  goods  or  chattels,  or  any  writ- 
ing containing  evidence  of  debt  contraet,  liability,  promise  or 
ownership  of  pniperty  (»f  the  value  of  $20,  or  of  the  receipt, 
payment  or  discharge  of  the  like  amount,  or  writings  of  like  kinti 
containing  together  evidence  of  like  amount,  h.  1.  n.  1.  2  y.,  n. 
0.  f)  y. 

Stealing  siune  things  m  al>ovo  of  less  value  than  20  dollars,  o.J. 
n.  e.  1  y.  and  $100  and  to  pay  owner  treble  value,  deducting  what 
is  returned. 

Stealing  any  deed,  will,  policy  of  insurance,  bill  of  sale  of  a 
vcRsel,  letter  of  attorney,  any  ^rit,  process  or  record  of  nny  court, 
any  public  or  eorpornto  record,  h.  1.  ii.  o.  S  y.,  n.  1.  0  y. 


APPENDIX. 


m 


Receiving  or  concealing  stolen  property,  knowing,  &c.,  h.  1.  n. 
1.  2  y.,  n.  e.  5  y. 

Malicious  injury  to  any  tree  placed  or  growing  for  ornament  or 
use  in  any  garden,  yard,  street,  square,  &c..  or  maliciously  doing 
any  act  whereby  the  real  or  personal  estate  of  another  shall  be 
injured,  c.  j.  n.  1.  30  d.,  n.  e.  1  y.  or  n.  e.  $100  or  both. 

Fraudulent  mortgage,  pledge,  sale,  or  conveyance  of  real  or 
peisonal  estate  of  $100  value,  fraudulent  concealment  of  personal 
estate  of  that  value  to  prevent  attachment  on  seizure,  on  execution, 
c.  j.  n.  1.  30  d.,  n.  e.  1  y.,  fine  n.  e.  double  value  of  property  or 
both. 

Fraudulent  receiving  such  mortgage,  &c.,  or  debtor's  property, 
<&c.,  same  as  above. 

Same  acts,  value  less  than  $100,  c.  j.  u.  1.  10  d.,  n.  o.  G  mo.,  fine 
not  exceeding  double  value,  or  both. 

Cheating  or  defrauding  by  falsly  personating  or  l)y  false  pre- 
tences, &c.,  n.  c.  $500  or  c.  j.  n.  e.  1  y.,  or  h.  1.  n.  e.  7  y.         • 

Frau(hdont  disposition  or  conversion,  or  secretion  of  money, 
goods,  &c.  delivered  or  entrusted  for  keeping,  carriage,  inn,  manu< 
lacturo  or  work  thereon,  as  for  larceny  of  like  value. 

ytealing,  &c.,  as  before,  of  less  value  than  $10,  c.  j.  n.  e.  90  d., 
or  n.  e.  $10  and  treble  value,  to  be  imposed  by  justice,  if  no  appeal. 

Malicious  trespass,  entering  into  gardens,  orchards,  <&c.,  or 
woodlands,  with  intent  to  cut,  take,  carry  away,  Jkc,  any  trees, 
iVuit  or  vegetables,  c.  j.  n.  e.  90  d.  or  n.  o.  $10  or  both,  and  treble 
value  to  owner. 

If  value  exceed  $20,  h.  I.  n.  1.  1  y.,  n.  c.  5  y. 

Malicious  prostrating  fences  and  exposing  fields  to  cattle,  &c., 
n.  0.  $10  and  c.  j.  n.  e.  1  y. 

Catching  fish  in  artificial  fish  ponds,  $5. 

IftkUi)  marking  or  countcrfoitmg  or  fraudulently  altering  any 
public  record,  writ,  process,  or  proceeding  of  any  court,  certificate 
of  any  public  ofHcer,  charter,  will,  deed,  boiMl,  fetter  of  attorney, 
policy,  certificate  of  state,  bill,  note,  order  for  moneys,  &c.,  or  any 
writing,  purporting  to  contain  evidenco  of  the  existence  or  dis- 
charge of  any  debt,  «&c.,  with  intent  that  any  pers(Mi  should  bo 
defrauded,  s.  i.  n.  e.  (>  mo.  and  h.  1.  n.  I.  3y.   n.  o.  7  y. 

Knowingly  passing  such  writing,  same. 
Falsly  making  or  counterfeiting  any  other  writing,  or  kuo«vingly 
using  with  intent.  Ace.,  h.  1.  n.  e.  3  y. 

Counterfeiting  bank  bills  or  notes  with  intent,  &c.,  s.  i.  n.  o.  0 
mo.,  h.  I.  n.  I.  2  y.  n.  o.  !>  y. 

Utlerinu  to  pass  such,  knowing,  &u.,  with  intent,  &c.,  s.  i.  n.  o. 
4  mo.  aiidh.  I.  n.  t.  2  y.,  n.  e.  5.  y. 

Milking,  &i\,  pliitcH,  Ac,  for  counterfeiting,  or  having  such  in  pos- 
sion,  knowing,  &e.,  with  intent  they  should  be  used,  Ace.,  s.  i.  u.  u. 
4  mo.  and  h.  I.  n.  I.  2  y.,  n.  e.  5  y. 

Making  false  coin,  n,  i,  n.  o.  0  mo.  iind  h.  1.  n.  I.  S  y.,  n.  c.  5  y . 


472 


APPENDIX. 


Mukingr,  «fec.,  dies,  &c.,  or  having  in  possession  with  iutout,  Ac, 
8.  i.  n.  c.  4  mo.  and  h.  1.  n.  1.  2  y.,  n.  e.  5  y. 

Perjury,  s.  i.  n.  e.  4  uio.  and  h.  I.  n.  1.  2  y.,  n.  e.  5  y. 

Willful  false  swearing  in  regard  to  anything  wherein  he  is 
required  by  law  to  make  an  oath  or  affirmation,  is  perjur}'. 

Subornation  of  perjury,  same  punishment. 

Willfully  assaulting  or  obstructing  any  officer  in  service  of  law- 
ful process  in  any  civil  case,  or  in  any  criminal  case  punishable  by 
imprisonment  or  fine,  or  both,  c.  j.  n.  e.  1  y  and  n.  1.  $300. 

Rescue  in  such  case,  same. 

Willfully  assaulting,  &c.,  in  criminal  case  punishable  by  hard 
labor,  or  rescue  in  such  case,  h.  1.  half  term  of  party  accused,  or 
c.  j.  n.  e.  2  y.  or  n.  e  $500,  (U*  both  last. 

Willfully  assaulting,  &c.,  in  a  criminal  case  punishable  with  death 
or  h.  1.  for  life,  or  rescue  in  such  case,  h.  1.  u.  e.  10  y.  or  c.  j.  n.  1. 
2  y.,  and  n.  e.  $500  ;  in  any  other  case,  c.  j.  u.  e.  (>  mo.  or  n.  e. 
$500. 

Convey i eg  tools  into  any  prison,  or  aiding  escape  therefrom 
without  escape,  c.  j.  n.  e.  1  y.  and  n.  e.  $600;  if  prisoner  convicted 
of  oAense  [)unishable  with  death  or  hard  labor,  s.  i.  n.  e.  0  mo.  and 
h.  1.  n.  e.  10  y.,  or  n.  c.  $500. 

Aiding  escape  of  person  committed  for  debt,  pay  debt  and  <}.  j. 
n.  e.  1  y. 

Aiding  escape  of  prisoner  committed  for  capital  otiunso,  h.  1.  for 
life  or  any  term  of  years. 

Aiding  escape  of  prisoner  for  oilunse  not  capital,  same  punish- 
ment as  prisoner,  or  c.  j.  n.  1.  1  y.  and  n.  o.  $2,000. 

Party  having  custody  permiting  escape,  sanie  as  for  aiding. 

Party  having  custody  negligently  suttcring  an  escape,  n.  e.  $500. 

False  prctendmg  to  bean  officer,  sheriff, <n' deputy  i^heritf,  whose 
duty  it  is  to  keep  the  peace,  or  apprehend  oll'enders,  or  retjuiro 
others  to  aid  him  as  such,  n.  e.  $300. 

Clerk  of  any  town  or  place,  willfully  and  corruptly  making  false 
record  of  vote,  or  false  copy  of  such  reeortl,  or  false  certillcate  or 
return  of  votes,  s.  i.  n.  e.  tJ  mo.,  h.  1.  n.  I.  2  y.,  n.  o.  5  y. 

Assault  and  battery  on  conviction  before  u  justice,  n.  e.  $10  or 
i.  j.  n.  e.  30  d.,  and  surety  of  peace  and  good  beliavitu';  it  of  an 
aggravated  nature,  n.  e.  $200  and  c.  j.  n.  e.  (5  mo.,  or  eilh(>r. 

Rioters  remaining  after  proclamation,  or  obstructing  or  aNNault- 
ing  oilicer  known  or  declared  to  be  such  in  making  proclainiition, 
n.  e.  $1,000  or  c.  j.  n.  e.  1  y. 

Breidiing  or  entering  a  dwelling  in  the  night  time,  or  breaking 
and  entering  in  the  day,  and  therein  eonunitting  aHwult  an«l  l)at- 
tory  on  any  inmate  of  such  house,  n.  o.  $1,000,  (!.  j.  n.  e.  1  y.  or  h. 
1.  n.  0.  7  y. 

ANsaulting  any  oily,  town  or  ward  officer  in  the  <liseharg(^  of 
any  duty  of  his  olHce,  at  the  annual  or  otlier  eleution,  or  taking 
away  or  destroying  the  ballot  l)<».\  or  check  list  when  in  use  at  such 
uloction,  n.  u.  $300,  or  It.  I.  n.  o.  3  y. 


APPENDIX. 


473 


Any  pei*son  who  shall  by  previous  appointment  meet  another 
and  engage  in  a  tight,  h.  1.  n.  e.  1  y.  or  n.  e.  $1,000. 

Every  one  i)re8ent  at  such  fight  as  aid,  second  or  surgeon,  or 
who  shall  advise,  &c.,  h.  1.  n.  c.  1  y.  or  c.  j.  n.  e.  1  y.,  or  n.  e. 
$1,000. 

Every  inhabitant  who  shall  by  previous  appointment  leave 
the  state  and  engage  in  a  fight  else  wore,  h.  1.  n.  e.  1  y.,  or  n.  o. 
$1,000. 

Adultery  or  incest,  c.  j.  n.  e.  1  y.  and  n.  o.  $500,  or  h.  I.  n.  1.  1 
y.  n.  e.  3  y. 

Gross  lewdness,  c.  j.  n.  e.  6  mo.  and  n.  e.  $200,  and  sureties  of 
good  behavior. 

Marrying  or  cohabiting  with  another  having  a  wife  or  liusband 
alive,  unless  absent,  not  heard  of  for  three  years,  or  reported  and 
generally  believed  dead,  or  where  former  marriage  within  the  ago 
of  consent,  as  adultery. 

Blasphemy,  n.  c.  $200,  and  may  bo  held  to  find  sureties  of  good 
behavior. 

Profane  swearing,  $1  first  otlonce,  double  for  second,  and  not 
paid,  house  of  correction  n.  o.  10  d. 

Digging  up  or  removing  dead  body  without  authority,  h.  1.  u. 
0.  1  y.,  or  n.  e.  $2,000  ami  c.  J.  n.  e.  1  y. 

Defacing,  &c.,  monuments,  tfeo.,  destroying,  &c.,  fences,  trees  in 
place."!  of  burial,  c.  j.  n.  e.  G  mo.,  or  n.  e.  $.')00,  or  liotli. 

Maliciously  maiming,  «&c.,  horses,  &c.,  n.  o.  $100,  c.  j.  n.  e.  IH) 
d.,  or  both. 

Setting  up  lottery  or  disposing  of  property  by  lottery,  n.  e. 
$600,  n    :.  $50. 

Selling  tickets  in  lottery,  printing  amounts  of  lotteries  or  places 
where  tickets  are  kept  for  sale,  n.  1.  $25,  n.  e.  $100. 

Keeping  gaming  house  or  sutlering  play  for  money  n.  I.  $10,  n. 

0.  $200,  or  c.  j.  n.  e.  1  y. 

Winning  at  one  sitting  $5,  double  the  amount;   less  than  $5,  n. 

1.  $2,  n.  e.  $10. 

Exposing  active  poison  for  destruction  of  animals  on  others' 
lands  or  in  highways  &v.,  n.  1.  $10  n.  e.  $100. 

Heling  unwholesome  provisions  without  notice,  c.  J.  n.  e.  i]  mo., 
or  n.  c.  $200. 

Kindling  fires  on  other's  land,  n.  e.  $10. 

Kindling  fires  if  fire  spreads  luul  «loes  damiigi^  to  oth(>r'H  property, 
n.  1.  $10  n.  e.  $1,(K)0,  or  c.  j.  n,  I.  1.  mo.,  n.  e.  i\.  y. 

Kindling  fires  carelessly  on  his  own  land,  and  thereby  destroying 
other's  property,  n.  1.  $10,  n.  e.  $1,000. 

Kindling  fires  on  his  own  or  other's  land  with  intent  to  injure 
another  whereby  the  property  <if  another  is  injured  or  destroyed, 
n.  1.  $2tO  n.  e.  $2,000,  e.  J.  n.  l.  (>  nu).  n.  o.  ;)  y.' 

Accessories  befoi'e  or  after  the  fact  and  ])ersons  who  iiid  in 
counsel,  hire  or  procure  the  ofi'ence,  same  punishment  as  principal 
ofi'ender. 


474 


APPENDIX. 


Attempts  to  commit  offences  punishable  by  hard  labor  for  life, 
8.  i.  n.  1.  6.  m.  h.  1.  n.  e.  10  y.  n.  1.  1.  y. 

Attempts  to  commit  any  other  offence,  n.  e.  half  punishment  for 
com.  of  offence. 

Attempts  to  commit  by  counsel,  hiring,  or  procurement  of 
others,  same  punishment  us  making  attempt. 

Acocssorics  to  offences  committed  out  of  the  state  before  or  after 
the  fact,  same  as  if  offence  committed  here. 

Besides,  there  are  a  large  number  of  lesser  offences  punishable 
with  small  lines,  which  I  have  thought  unprofitable  to  attempt  to 
enumerate.  If  exact  information  is  sought  no  abstract  should  be 
relied  upon,  but  reference  should  be  made  to  the  statute  book. 
For  general  views,  the  loose  abstract  above  may  be  sufficient. 

Connecticut: 
Walteu  Pitkin,  Esq. — The  following  is  believed  to  be  a  com- 
2)lete  catalogue  of  the  crimes  and   misdemeanors  for  which  a 
penalty  is  provided  by  the  statute  law  of  this  state: 

{A.)  Of ences  punishable  by  death. 

Treason,  murder  in  the  first  degree,  arson  or  burning  of  any 
building  eaushig  death. 

(jO.)  Offences  punishable  by  imprisonment  only. 

Murder  in  the  second  degree,  arson  endangering  life,  perjury 
with  intent  to  take  life,  cutting  out  the  tongue  or  putting  out  the 
eye  of  another  by  laying  in  wait,  rape,  sodomy  (if  one  party  is 
forced  or  under  15,  ho  is  not  punishcil),  bestiality — state  prisoi 
for  life. 

Assault  (including  poisoning)  with  intent  to  kill — state  prison 
for  life  or  not  less  than  10  years. 

Muinuiig  with  intent  to  disfigure,  robbery  with  personal  abuse, 
burglary  with  personal  abuse,  carnal  knowledge  of  female  child 
under  ten  years,  destroying  pul)lic  stores,  burning  ]»ublic  build- 
ings, arson,  burning  building  endangering  a  dwelling  house,  burn- 
ing a  buil  ling  or  vessel  with  intent  to  defraud  insurers,  removing 
or  altering  public  records,  cotmtcrfeiting  public  seal — state  prison 
not  less  tnan  seven  or  more  than  ten  years. 

Assault  with  intent  to  commit  rape — state  prison  not  less  than 
three  or  more  than  ten  years. 

Placing  obstructions  on  railroads — state  prison  not  more  than 
ten  years. 

Ki\ib(>/:/.1ement  of  funds  of  banks,  railroads,  Ac,  and  making 
fals<>  (Mitries  in  books  of  same,  disintennent  of  deceased  persons, 
burning  buildings  containing  horses  or  neat  cattle — state  prison 
not  less  than  two  or  more  than  ton  years. 

liobbery — state  prison  not  less  than  four  or  more  than  ten  years. 


APPENDIX. 


475 


Aiding  an  escape  from  state  prison,  breaking  or  assisting  in 
breaking  jail,  perjury  and  Hubornation  of  perjury,  aasault  with 
Intent  to  rob,  carrying  or  enticing  away  a  child  under  twelve 
years  of  age,  attempting  to  destroy  public  stores,  attf  "^oting  to 
destroy  public  buildings,  forgery  (and  double  damage  ,o  party 
injured),  counterfeiting  coin,  possessing  counterfeit  coin  with 
intent  to  pass,  possessing  counterfeit  bills  with  intent  to  pass,  pos- 
sessing bank  1)ills  with  intent  to  fill  up  and  to  pass,  selling  coun- 
terfeit bills  with  intent  to  have  them  passed,  forging  public  securi- 
ties, making  plates  for  counterfeit  bills,  possessing  plate  for  forg. 
ing  bank  bills,  adultery,  incest,  bigamy,  burning  vessel  or  build- 
ing other  than  a  dwelling  house,  horse  stealing,  stealing  from  the 
person — state  prison  not  less  than  two  years  or  more  than  6  years. 

Burglary,  theft  of  a  sum  exceeding  |50,  acting  as  principal  or 
second  in  a  prize  fight — state  prison  not  more  than  five  years.   • 

Breaking  and  entering  a  store  with  intent  to  rob,  breaking  and 
entering  a  dwelling  in  day  season — state  prison  not  more  than 
four  years. 

Uttering  and  passing  as  money  any  false  token  in  the  similitude 
of  bill  or  checks  of  banks,  &c. — state  prison  not  less  than  one  year 
or  more  than  three  years. 

Attempting  to  break  and  enter  a  building  with  intent  to  steal 
or  commit  other  crime,  abetting  prize  fight — state  prison  not  more 
than  two  years. 

Obstructing  the  apprehension  of  a  person  complained  of — state 
prison  one  year. 

Embezzlement  by  bailee  of  goods  to  bo  manufactured — common 
jail  not  more  than  six  months. 

Keeping  or  frequenting  a  house  reputed  to  bo  of  ill  fame — work- 
house not  more  than  thirty  days. 

(C.)  Ofences  puniHhahle  hy  fine  onh/. 

Challenging  another  to  fight  a  duel,  carrying  or  delivering  such 
challenge — fine  $3,000.  (If  tho  challenger  is  un:il>le  to  pay  the 
fine,  ho  is  punishable  by  imprisonment  in  jail  for  a  year,  and  in 
eitliur  ease  is  disqualified  to  hold  any  ofiico  of  trust  or  honor.) 

Unlawful  dissections — not  more  than  $2,000  or  less  than  $500. 

Emitting  bills  of  credit,  or  making  or  issuing  any  writing  or 
note  payal>lu  in  goods,  or  other  valuable  thing  to  be  u^od  for  pur- 
poses of  general  currency — fine  not  exceeding  $000  or  less  than 
$100. 

Encouraging  attempts  to  produce  miscarriage — fine  not  more 
than  $r>00. 

Importing  foreign  convicts  (each  offence) — fine  of  $384. 

Unlicensed  exhibition  of  tuml)lers,  mountebanks,  rope  walking, 
&c.,  unlicensed  exhibition  of  feats  of  horses,  allowing  land  or  build- 
ings to  be  used  for  the  above  purposes,  keeping  unlicensed  billiard 
tables — not  uioro  than  $200. 


476 


APPENDIX. 


Passing  bills  of  credit,  &c.,  issued  with  intent  to  be  used  as 
general  currency,  having  nn  ijiterest  in  any  fund  used  for  gaminw, 
betting  on  an  election  or  holding  stakes,  losing  or  winning  money, 
&c.,  by  playing  or  betting  on  games  of  hazard,  and  sUiicring 
them  to  bo  played  in  one's  house  or  building — not  more  than  $100 
or  less  than  $20. 

Conversation  by  or  with  juror  concerning  cause  on  trial — n(>t 
more  than  $100. 

Secretly  assaulting  and  maiming  another — not  more  than  $67. 

Giving  unlicensed  theatrical  exhibitions  with  a  view  to  gain — 
fine  of  $50. 

Betting  on  a  horse  race,  or  making  up  a  purse  for  the  same — 
not  more  than  $50  or  less  than  $10. 

(If  the  offender  is  owner  of  the  horse,  it  in  forfeited.) 

Keeping  an  unlicensed  nine-pin  alley — not  more  than  $50  or 
less  than  $7. 

Injuring  trees  on  o  public  square — not  more  than  $50. 

liemoval  of  stone  on  a  conunon  shore — not  more  than  $35. 

Disturbance  of  religious  meetings — not  more  than  ^34. 

Advertising  a  horse  race,  or  driving  or  holding  stakes  at  the 
same — not  more  than  $30  or  less  than  $8. 

Barratry — tine  of  $17.  ; 

Public  keeping  of  implements  for  gaming,  allowing  building 
to  be  used  for  unlicensed  exhibitions  of  mountebanks,  &c.,  pin- 
chasing  and  distributing  obscene  books,  &c.,  selling  spirituous 
liquors  within  two  miles  of  a  camp  meeting — lino  of  $7. 

Injuring  bridges,  catching  shell-fish  growing  on  bridges,  tearing 
down  trees  on  a  public  square,  theft  of  n  amount  not  exceeding 
$15,  taking  fish  from  private  ponds,  being  present  at  a  fight 
between  animals — not  more  than  $7. 

Using  fire  crackers,  except  on  4th  Julj* — fine  $5. 

Gaming  for  money,  head  of  family  allowing  games  at  cards  or 
billiards  in  his  house — fine  of  $4. 

Profimo  swearing — fine  of  $1. 

(/).)  Ojfencefi  puniaJuthle  hy  fne  and  imprisonment. 

Manslaughter — state  prison  or  jail  not  more  than  10  years,  ami 
fine  not  exceeding  $1,000. 

Mispriscjli  of  treason — state  prison  not  more  than  7  or  loss 
than  3  years,  and  fine  not  exceeding  $1,000. 

Falsely  representing  u  free  person  to  be  a  slave,  seizing  a  free 
person  with  intent  to  enslave,  falsely  testifying  that  any  person  is 
a  slave — state  prison  5  years  and  a  fine  of  $5,000. 

Bribery — state  prison  not  more  than  6  or  loss  than  2  years,  and 
fine  iM)t  exceeding  $1,000. 

Kidna])ping  free  person — same  imprisonment  as  above,  and  fine 
not  exceeding  $5. 

Exposing  child  under  C  years  of  ago  with  Intent  to  abandon—- 
same  imprisonment  us  above,  and  fine  not  exceeding  $400. 


APPENDIS. 


477 


Setluction  (Ist  offence) — state  prison  not  more  thou       ears,  fin 
not  exceeding  $2,000. 

Seduction  (2d  offence) — state  prison  not  more  than  one  year, 
and  fine  not  exceeding  $1,000. 

Emitting  bills  of  credit,  &c.,  to  be  used  as  general  currency — 
state  prison  n.  e.  1  y.,  n.  1.  3  mos.,  and  fine  n.  o.  $600  n.  1.  $100. 

Concealing  death  of  bastard  child,  blasphemy — state  prison  not 
more  than  1  year,  and  tine  n.  e.  $100. 

Theft  of  an  amount  between  $15  and  $50 — common  jail  n.  o.  6 
mos.,  and  n.  1.  $100. 

Tearing  down  turnpike  gate  or  toll-house  in  night  season — com- 
mon jail  n.  e.  6  n.  1.  2  mos.,  and  fine  not  less  than  $20. 

Unlawful  killing  of  game — common  jail  n.  e.  10  d.,  fine  n.  e.  $5. 

(£'.)  Offences  puniHltahle  by  fine  or  impriaonment. 

Sale  of  foreign  lottery  tickets — common  jail  not  more  than  1 
year  or  less  than  2  mos.,  cr  fine  n.  o.  $300  or  n.  1.  $50. 

Publication  of  obscene  books,  &c. — common  jail  not  more  than 
1  year  or  less  than  2  mos.,  or  fine  n.  e.  $300  or  less  than  $50. 

Malicious  prosecution — same  imprisonment  as  al)ove  or  tine  n. 
e.  $1,000  or  n.  1.  $20. 

Sale  of  property  l)y  lotteries  or  hazard  of  any  kind — same 
punishment  as  above. 

Leasing  buildings  to  be  used  for  purposes  of  prostitution — jail 
not  more  than  i\  mos.,  or  tine  not  exceeding  $500. 

Conten)pt  of  court  (except  justices') — jail  not  more  than  G  mos. 
or  tine  not  exceeding  $100. 

Selling  diseased  flesh  or  fowl — jail  not  more  than  6  months,  or 
fine  not  exceeding  $100. 

Secret  delivery  of  bastard  child — jail  not  more  than  3  months, 
or  fine  not  exceeding  $150. 

Cruelty  to  animals — ^jail  not  more  than  30  days,  or  fine  n.  e.  $25. 

Fornication — jail  not  more  than  30  days,  or  fine  $7. 

(/)  Off  etices  punishable  by  fine  or  imprisonment  or  both. 

Aiding  or  corresponding  with  rebels  or  public  enemies — state 
[)rison  not  more  than  7  or  less  than  three  years,  or  tine  n.  o.  $1000 
or  both. 

Attempt  to  produce  miscarriage,  accessories  to  above  crime — 
state  juiHon  not  more  than  5  yeavH,  or  tiiic  n.  e.  $1,000  for  princi- 
pal, or  $500  for  accessory,  or  l)oth. 

Obtaining  goods  &c.,  by  false  pretences — state  prison  not  more 
than  5  years,  or  tine  n.  e.  $500,  or  both. 

Embe/.zlement,  fraud  or  muking  false  entries  by  oflicors  or 
agents  of  corporations — state  prison  n.  e.  5  years,  or  fine  n.  e.  $100, 
or  both. 

Attempt  by  a  woman  to  produce  miscarriage  on  hei'sclf — state 
prison  not  more  than  2  yqars,  or  fine  n.  o.  $500,  or  both. 


478 


APPENDIX. 


Obstructing  navigation  of  c:i  als,  or  injuring  gate  locks  &c. — 
jail  not  more  than  1  year  or  less  than  2  months,  or  fine  u.  e.  $500 
or  less  than  $30,  or.  both. 

Using  indecent  or  abusive  language — jail  not  more  than  1  year, 
or  fine  n.  e.  $500,  or  both. 

Injuring  telegraph  poles — same  imprisonment  {is  above,  or  fine 
n.  e.  $200,  or  both. 

Injuring  engines  or  displacing  switch  on  railroads — same  impris- 
onment as  ubove,  or  fine  n.  e.  $150,  or  both. 

Poisoning  fish  ponds — same  imprisonment  as  above,  or  fine  u.  e, 
$100,  or  both. 

Embezzlement  and  false  entries  by  clerks — jail  not  more  than  1 
year,  or  fine  n.  e.  $100,  or  both. 

Malicious  injury  to  trees,  vegetables  or  fences — jail  not  more 
than  1  year,  or  fine  n.  e.  $100,  or  both. 

Fraudulent  procuring  naval  or  military  bounty  due  another — 
jail  n.  e.  6  months,  or  fine  n.  e.  $300,  or  both. 

Wilfully  burning  woods,  grain,  &c.,  or  injuring  bridges,  mill 
dams,  machinery,  animals,  or  cloth  in  process  of  manufacture — 
jail  not  more  than  6  or  less  than  2  months,  or  fine  n.  c.  |200  or 
less  than  $20,  or  both.  , 

Keeping  or  frequenting  dance-house,  reputed  to  be  a  plac(^  of 
assignation — jail  not  more  than  six  months  or  less  tiian  30  days, 
or  fine  n.  e.  $100,  or  both. 

Injuring  derrick,  injuring  gas  works,  painting  or  printing  on 
the  property  of  another,  breaking  windows  in  a  dwelling  house, 
injuring  signs,  vehicles,  aqueducts  or  boundary-marks  loosing  a 
horse  fastened  in  a  public  place,  forging  or  counterfeiting  stamps 
or  labels,  selling  goods  having  counterfeit  stamp — -jail  not  more 
than  6  months,  or  fine  n.  e.  $100,  or  both. 

Breach  of  the  peace  by  threatening  &c.,  using  threats  &c.,  to 
cause  workmen  to  leave  their  employers,  keeping  house  of  ill-fame, 
acting  as  bar  tender  or  servant  in  house  of  ill-fame — jail  not 
more  than  0  months,  or  fine  n.  e.  $100  or  both. 

Riotously  asseml)ling  and  not  dispersing  after  proclamation, 
obstructing  proclamation  to  rioters — jail  G  months,  or  tine  n.  e. 
$67,  or  both. 

Injuring  buildings  or  clothing  by  putting  thereon  any  noxious 
substance — jail  not  more  than  4  months,  or  fine  n.  c.  $100,  or  both. 

•'Gift  sales,"  drawing  of  lotteries,  sale  of  lottery  tickets — jail 
n.  e.  3  niontiis,  or  fine  n.  e.  $17,  or  both. 

Keeping  disorderly  house — jail  n.  e.  3  months,  or  fine  n.  c.  SlOO, 
or  both. 

Exposing  person — ^jail  n()t  more  than  3  months,  or  fine  n.  e.  $50, 
or  both. 

Using  horse  or  boat  without  permission  of  owner — same  punish- 
ment as  above. 

Injuring  ponds  used  for  breeding  fish — jail  not  more  than  3 
months,  or  fine  n.  c.  $25,  or  both. 


APPENDIX. 


479 


Injuring  public  buiWings  or  furniture,  cutting  timber  trees  on 
the  land  of  another, — ^jail  not  more  than  3  months,  or  fine  n.  e., 
$17,  or  both. 

Resisting  a  public  officer — jail  not  more  than  2  months,  or  fine 
n.  e.,  $34,  or  both. 

Public  exhibition  of  rebel  flags  or  devices — jail  n.  e.  30  days, 
or  fine,  n.  e.,  $100,  or  both. 

Using  gas  without  metre,  altering  metre,  fraud  of  agent  of  gas 
company, — jail  not  more  than  30  days,  or  fine  n.  e.  $50,  or  both. 

Improper  burials — jail  n.  e.  30  days,  or  fine  n.  e.  $50,  or  both. 

Interrupting  or  disturbing  schools, — jail  n.  e.  30  days,  or  fine 
n.  e.  $7,  or  n.  1.  $100,  or  both. 

Loosing  cattle  for  the  purpose  of  having  them  impounded,  cut- 
ting trees  on  lands  of  Indians,  taking  or  destroying  fish  in  private 
ponds,  false  statements  by  driver  of  livery  team,  breaking  win- 
dows in  a  public  building  in  thf'  night  season,  stealing  fruit  &c., 
in  the  night,  or  destroying  fruit  or  shrubbery,  trespass  on  culti- 
vated lands,  stealing  growing  cranberries,  thn^wing  dead  animals 
into  ponds  used  for  domestic  purposes,  driving  on  a  bridge  at  a 
gate  faster  than  a  walk,  furnishing  prisoners  with  liquor,  contempt 
of  court  (justices'),  lascivious  carriage,  keeping  a  place  for  fighting 
cocks  or  animals, — jail  not  more  than  30  days,  or  fine  n.  e.  $7,  or 
both. 

Stealing  poultry — ^jail  n.  e.  G  months,  or  fine  n.  e.  $50,  or  both 

New  Jersey: 

CoiiTLANDT  Parker,  Esq. — The  punishments  of  crime  arc  as 
follows: 

Treason:  death. 

Misprision  of  treason:  state  prison,  7  years  and  $1,000  fine. 

Murder  1st  dcii    o  (no  discretion):  death. 

Murder  2d  degree:  state  prison  20  years. 

Manslaughtoi':  s^tate  prison  10  years  and  $1,000  fine.  e 

Sodomy:  sl.ifo  prison  21  years  and  $1,000  fine. 

Rape:  stair  |)iison  15  years  and  $1,000  fine. 

Abduction  (forcible):  state  prison  12  years  and  $1,000  fine 

Abduction,  with  consent  of  infant  under  15:  state  prison  2  years 
and  .^400  fine. 

Abdu(!tion  with  consent  and  deflowering:  state  prison  5  years 
and  $1,000  fine. 

Polygamy:  state  prison  10  years  and  $1,000  fine. 

Concealment  of  bastardy:  state  prison  1  year  and  $200  fine. 

Incest:  state  prison  1^  years  and  $500  fine. 

Adultery:  state  prison  1^  years  and  $100  fine. 

Fornication:  state  prison,  fine  $14. 

Open  lewdness:  state  prison  1  year  and  $100  fine. 

l*retonce  of  supernatural  powers:  county  gaol  3  months  and 
$50  fine. 

Imi)osture8  in  religion:  county  gaol  6  months  and  $100  fine. 

Blasphemy:  state  prison  1  year  and  $200  fine. 


l;\ 


i  Stilt 


480 


APPENDIX. 


Perjury  ov  suboniation;  ilistVaiicIiisement  mid  state  prison  7 
years  and  $800  line. 

Bribery  and  accepting  brilies:  state  prison  5  years  and  $800 
tine. 

Taking  unlawful  fees;  state  prison  2  years  and  $400  lino. 

Embracing  and  taking  bribe  as  juryman:  state  prison  2  years 
and  $600  tine. 

Arson:  state  prison  15  years  and  $2,000  fine. 

Burning  buildings  not  parcel  of  dwelling:  state  prison  10  years 
and  $1,000  tine. 

Attempt  at  burning:  state  prison  5  years  and  $500  tine.        :i 

Burglary:  state  prison  10  years  and  $500  fine. 

Breaking  and  entering  by  day:  state  prison  10  years  and  $500 
fine. 

Larceny  of  or  over  $20:  state  prison  10  years  and  $500  line; 
under  $20,  county  jail  3  months  and  $100  fine;  i)etty,  repoateil, 
state  prison  7  years  and  $500  tine. 

K()l)b(>ry:  slate  prison  15  years  and  $1,000  fine. 

Attempt  at  robbery:  state  prison  10  years  and  $500  fine. 

Assault  with  intent  to  commit  nmrder,  rape,  burglary,  robljcry 
and  sodomy:  state  jirison  10  years  and  $1,000  fine. 

Wounding  or  maiming:  state  prison  10  years  and  $1,000  line.. 

Entering  without  lu'eaking  with  intent  to  commit  above  crimes: 
stali'  piison  5  years  and  $.'100  fine. 

Poisoning  not  [)roilucing  death:  state  prison  15  years  ami  $1,000 
fine. 

Embc/zlcment:  state  prison  2yeur8antl  $100  line. 

Stealing  or  falsifying  records:  state  prison  7  years  and  $7,000 
tine, 

Eorgeiy:  state  prison  10  years  and  $.'},000  fine. 

rttciing:  Nlate  prison  10  years  ami  $;{,000  line. 

EaNi>  personation  in  legal  n»atters:  state  prison  7  years  and 
18,000  tine. 

Kmb('z/I(>ment  by  public  ollicers;  state  prison  5  years  and 
$5,0(»(l  llui'. 

Obtaining  goods,  i^c,  by  false  pretenooti:  state  prison  <'l  years 
an<l  $1,000  line. 

Obsirueting  ollicers:  state  prison  2  years  and  $800  line. 

Uescucs  and  v<duntary  permission  nf  «<scap(<.  if  of  those  <,Miilty 
of  nmrder  or  ti'cason:  death;  (»f  other  convicts  or  accused:  state 
prison  '<\  years,  line  $1,000. 

jNegligent  escapes:  stale  prison  .'I  ycarH  and  $1,000  lints 

Ib'cakiug  pris(m:  stale  prison  U  yi-ars  and  $1,000  line. 

Aiding  in  breaking  prison:  state  prison  2 years  mid  $500  tine. 

('Miuposilion  t»f  felony:  state  ))ris(m  I  year  and  $.'100  line. 

Conspiracy:  state  prison  2  vears  and  $500  lin<<. 

Kidnapping,  iSn\:  state  prison  5  years  and  $1,000  liiiu. 

Ma\  hem:  state  prison  7  years  and  $1,000  line. 


APPENDIX. 


481 


Dueling,  aiding  and  abetting,  though  no  death  ensue  nor  duel 
happen:  state  prison  2  years  and  $500  fine. 

Fighting  or  being  second  in  duel:  state  prison  4  years  and 
$1,000  fine. 

Sending  threatening  letters:  state  prison  9  months  and  $300  fine. 

Stealing  fixtures  or  growing  grain:  state  prison  9  mouths  and 
$50  tine. 

Destroying  papers  of  pecuniary  value  with  fraudulent  intent : 
state  prifson  10  months  and  $800  tine. 

Malicious  miseliief;  state  prison  2  months  and  $150  fine. 

Injuring  railroads:  state  prison  3  months  and  $300  tine. 

Receiving  stolen  goods  knowing,  &c.:  state  prison  3  months  and 
$300  tine. 

Concealing  knowledge  of  felony:  state  prison  3  months  and 
$500  tine. 

Selling  diseased  and  unwholesome  articles:  county  jail  3  months 
and  $50  tine. 

llesurroctionizing:  state  i)rison  5  years  and  $2,000  tine.       \  ' 

Prize  fighting:  state  ^^rison  2  years,  fine  $1,000. 

Bringing  ])rize  fighte\'s  or  their  abettors  here:  state  prison  2 
years  and  $500  fine. 

Citizens  of  other  states  coming  to  witness  prize  fight:  state  pri- 
son 1  year  and  $300  fine. 

Obstructing  firemen  on  duty:  state  prison  2  years  and  $1,000 
fine. 

Assaults,  false  imprisomnent,  riof^,  nuisances,  and  all  otlences  til 
common  law  not  specially  provided  for:  state  prison  2  years  aiul 
fine  $500. 

Selling  coat  or  other  merchandize  by  persons  transporting' 
same:  county  Jail  1  year  and  tine  $500. 

Abortion  and  attempting  same,  if  woman  die:  state  ))ris(>n  l'> 
years  and  $1,000  tine;  if  not:  state  [)rison  7  years  and  $500  tine. 

Selling  ardent  spirits  without  license:  $20  line. 

Selling  intoxicating  li(]Uor  Sunday:  $20  tine. 

Selling  lottery  tickets  or  policies:  state  prison  1  year  and  $100 
fme. 

(taming:  state  prison  2  years  and  $500  tine. 

Horse  racing  and  betting  on:  coui.ty  jail  (>  months  and  $100  tine. 

In  making  (Itis  table,  the  limits  of  the  discretion  of  the  com  I 
any  giv(<n.  No  H(<ntence  is  imperative  but  that  of  deatli,  which 
can  only  be  connnuted  by  the  pardoning  power.  Alt  eiitnes, 
whatever  their  degree  at  eonmion  taw,  save  murder  and  treason, 
are  slatutory  misdenuMUKtrs,  Home  termed  high  miHdeineiiiioro. 
Wlietln^r  tln^  distinct  ion  of  f<dony  and  misdemeanor  is  abolished 
otiierwise  than  in  pleading  is  not  fully  N(<ttled. 

The  punishnuMils  annexed  by  law  to  ci'im(<s  and  iniNd(Mnt>anot>* 
are  lines  and  imprisonments  ;  Nonii^limefi  (>ith(M',  sonn'timeN  both  ; 
hnprisonnient  to  hard  lalior  In  stale  prison  or  iniprisonnient  in 

[AN«um.  Ho.  35.  J  a  I 


482 


APPENDIX. 


Jail.     Ill  cases  of  trensoii  and  murtlor  in  the  first  tlogrec,  capital 
puuishiucnt  hy  hanging. 

V  -  A 

l*ennsylva!iin : 

J.  J.  Bakclav,  Esq. — Sco  the  penal  code:  "Act  to  con8olicla(o> 
revise  and  amend  the  penal  laws  of  this  conunonwealtli,  March  31) 
l^GO."     Tamp.  Laws,  382. 

Maryland  : 

A.  Steklino,  Jr.,  Esq. — The  coinnioii  hnv  is  in  force  here, 
except  as  speeially  niodilied  by  statute  law.  The  statutes  have 
lixed  [)unishinents  for  many  common  law  ort'eiices,  antl  made  some 
statutory  ollences,  but  not  many  except  those  growing  out  of 
slavery,  which  have  nearly  all  been  abolished.  Tliey  are  maiidy 
punishing  vagran'.y,  preventing  the  sale  of  li«pior,  and  on  Sunday 
against  gambling.  The  state  has  mad*,^  little  change  in  the  com- 
mon law  crimes,  except  as  to  the  punishment. 

Kentucky  : 

E.  L.  Van  Winklk,  Escj. — The  punishment  for  murder  is  death. 

Manslaughter:  2  to  10  years  in  penitentiary. 

Burglary:  confincMiient  in  the  penitent iaiy. 

Arson:  conllnement  in  the  penitentiary. 
'     liape:  conllnement  in  the  penitentiary,  10  years  to  20  yi-ars, 

(Jrimd  laiceny:  continement  in  tln>  penitentiary  2  to  4  years. 

Forgery:  confinement  in  the  penitentiary. 

Uapo  upon  the  body  of  an  inlant  under  the  ago  of  12  years: 
tlrath. 

Malicious  shooting  or  stabbing  wIkmv  death  ensues  within  six 
months:  penitentiary  for  not  less  than  1  nor  more  than  0  years. 

('arnal  knowledge  of  !i  white  girl  under  10  years  of  age,  or  of 
an  idiot:  penitentiary  from  10  to  20  years, 

A!»duetion  of  a  white  girl,  under  11  yt»ars  of  age,  fr(>m  the  pos- 
session of  parents  or  p(-rson  having  charge:  penitent iai'y  from  1  to 
2  years,  or  fined  from  *100  to  !t<r(00. 

Dt'coying  child  under  lO  years,  or  eoneealing  same,  knowing  il 
to  have  been  entieetl  fi'oin  its  piu'euts  or  guardiiuis:  penitentiary 
iVom  1  to  2  yen's. 

Detention  of  white  woman  against  her  will  with  intiMition  to 
marry  or  have  her  marritui  to  another,  or  with  intent  to  huso  car- 
nal knowledge — penitentiary  2  to  7  yvtwa,  > 

lligamy — penitentiary  2  t*   D  yt-ars. 

Jiobbery  imd  biM'glars    ■-•'Ho  l(>  years. 

AsNuidl  with  int«'Ut  to  rob — 1  l(»  2  years.  • 

l<\>loniously  taking  property  from  dwellln;',  ehureh.  scliool 
liotisc,  booth,  tent  or  nairket,  or  public  building-  •{  to  2  years. 

Miuuiiiig— 1  to  ft  ycjUH. 


APPENDIX. 


483 


Malicious  shooting  or  stabbing  and  wounding,  or  poisoning 
without  death — 1  to  5  years. 

Threatening  letters  witli  the  intent  to  axtort — 1  to  10  years. 

Felonious  breaking  into  store-housos,  &o. — 1  to  7  years. 

Willful   burning   out-lu)Uses,   stacks   of  grain,    or   attempting 
same — 1  to  G  years  ;  for  attempt — 3  months  to  (5  years. 

Perjury — 2  to  0  years. 

Subornation — 2  to  G  years,  besides  being  over  after  disfjualifiod 
from  giving  evidence. 

lU'il>ing  u  juror — 1  to  6  years. 

Counterfeiting  coin  or  bank  iu)tcs — 5  to  15  3'ears. 

CountertiL'itiug  checks,  certllicates  aiul  other  Instruments — 2  to 
6  years. 

Deeds,  wills,  boiuls,  patents,  &c. — 2  to  10  years. 

Forging  seal  of  state.  United  States,  or  of  any  court  or  olHcor, 
an«l  uttering,  publishing  or  usitig  same — 5  to  IT)  years. 

Forgery  of  any  other  paper  to  obtain  possession  of  property  of 
another — 2  to  10  years. 

llavmg  in  possession,  with  intent  to  pass,  counterfeit  bank 
notes — 2  to  10  years. 

IMato  in  possession  with  intent — same. 

Selling  or  stealing  free  person — 5  to  10  yours, 

Horse  stealing — 4  to  8  yeaiN. 

Ilog  stealing — 2  to  4  years. 

Jieeeiving  stolen  goods — 1  U\  G  years. 

Find)e/,zUunent — 1  to  10  years.  ♦ 

Obtaining  nu)ney  or  proi)erly  under  false  pretences — I  to  5 
years. 

False  personation  to  marry  another,  to  become  bail  to  confess 
jiulgnuMit,  to  do  any  other  act  in  the  course  of  any  suit — I  to  !i 
year.s. 

Destruction  of  public  w<uks,  <'orner  trees,  fiaudulenlly:  2  to  4 
years. 

lOscape  from  penitentiary:  2  to  G  years. 

FiScapo  and  rescue  of  pris(UUMs:  same  term  for  which  the 
prisoner  wouhl  have  been  eo     icted. 

Shooting  and  sta)»bing  in  siid(h>n  allVay  without  malice,  where 
death  doein  not  ensue:  tine  igiAO  to  ijj!/)!)!)  and  eonlinement  in  county 
Jail  G  to  12  months. 

Shooting  at  with  intent  to  kill  or  wound,  without  inf1i(^ling 
w(Mnid:  lint*  not  exceeding  ^jjijOO  and  imprisonment  in  <M)unly  jail 
(>  to  12  months,  or  either. 

Disturbance  of  religious  wiuship:  )i(lO  to  i^/iO,  or  lO  to  20  <h\yi*i 
or  liolh. 

Duelling  or  challenging:  line  iSt.'iOO  to  !>!ri()l),  and  loift^ilure  of 
odii  e,  ilisi|ualili(>d  for  ollice  and  loss  of  sulIVage  for  7  years. 

Lottery  ticlict  Ht«lling:  ifilOO  to  ^10,000,  .Vc. 


Mi 


1 


-     I   .B 


484 


APPENDIX. 


Indiana : 

Hon.  Conrad  Baker. — Treason  and  murder  in  the  first  degree 
are  punishable  with  death  or  imprisonment  for  life.  Murder  in 
second  degree  punishable  by  imprisonment  for  life. 

Manslaughter:  imprisonment  for  not  less  than  2  nor  more  than 
21  years. 

Assault  or  assault  and  battery  with  intent  to  commit  a  felony: 
not  less  than  2  or  more  than  14  years  imprisonment,  and  a  fine 
not  exceeding  $1,000. 

Administering  poison  with  intent  to  kill,  Avhen  death  does  not 
ensue:  imprisonment  for  not  less  than  three  years. 

Mingling  poison  with  food,  drink  or  medicine,  with  intent  to 
injure  any  human  being:  imprisonment  not  less  than  2  nor  more 
than  14  years. 

Malicious  mayhem:  not  less  than  2  nor  racro  than  14  years 
and  fine  not  exceeding  $1,000. 

Kidnapping:  fine  not  less  than  $100  nor  more  than  $5,000,  and 
imprisonment  not  less  tl\an  2  nor  more  than  14  years. 

Rape — imprisonment  for  not  less  than  2  nor  more  than  21  years. 

Seduction  of  a  female  of  good  moral  character,  under  the  ago 
of  21  years,  under  promise  of  marriage — imprisonment  in  peni- 
tentiary not  loss  than  1  nor  more  than  3  years,  and  fine  not  exceoc'- 
ing  $r)00,  or  imprisonment  in  county  jail  not  exceeding  (5  months. 

Al)ducting  of  a  female  for  ptu'posos  of  prostitution — imprison- 
ment in  penitentiary  not  less  than  2  nor  more  than  5  years,  or 
impilsonment  in  county  jail  not  exceeding  1  year  and  tine  not 
exceeding  $500. 

Burglary — imprisonment  in  penitentiary  for  not  less  than  2  nor 
more  than  14  years,  and  fine  not  exceeding  ."?1,000. 

K(>bl)ery — imprisonment  in  penitentiary  for  not  less  than  2  nor 
more  than  14  years,  and  fine  not  exceeding  .'?1,00(). 

Grand  larceny — imprisonment  in  stale  prison  for  not  less  tliun 
2  nor  more  than  14  years,  and  disfranehiseuient  for  any  detorntined 
period. 

Petit  larceny — fine  not  exceeding  ^r)00  and  ImprisonnnMit  in 
state  priHou  not  lens  than  1  or  more  than  three  years,  witii  dis- 
franehJNemt^nt  for  any  determinate  period,  or  fine  and  disfraneliis(>- 
mcnt  as  aforesaid,  and  imprisonment  in  county  jail  not  exceeding 
1  year. 

Iteeeiviiig  stohMi  goods — same  as  larceny. 

Altering  niarkM  and  lirands  of  cattle  with  intent  to  steal — same 
08  ffi'and  larceny. 

Falsi'ly  perH(maling  another  and  ree*»lvlng  prop(*rty — nam<>  ns 
petit  or  grand  lare(Uiy  according  to  atU(Mnit. 

Obtaining  good.t  by  t'alse  pretences — imprisonment  in  ))enit(<ii- 
tentiary  for  not  Icms  than  2  nor  more  than  7  years,  and  fine  not 
exceeding  doul)le  the  valiio  of  the  property  so  obtained. 

Ai'ttuu — impriiiunmunt  in  the  «»lalo  prison  for  iiol  less  than  ^  u«>r 


APPENDIX. 


485 


more  than  10  years,  and  fine  not  less  than  double  the  value  of  the 
property  destroyed  and,  should  the  life  of  any  person  be  lost 
thereby,  the  offender  shall  be  deemed  guilty  of  murder  and  shall 
suffer  death  or  imprisonment  for  life  accordingly. 

Willfully  and  maliciously  obstructing  a  railroad  track — imprison- 
ment for  not  less  than  1  or  more  than  7  years,  and  if  death  ensue 
the  offence  is  murder  in  the  second  degree  and  is  punished  accord- 
ingly. 

Forgery  and  counterfeiting — imprisonment  in  state  prison  for 
not  less  than  2  nor  more  than  14  years,  and  fine  not  exceeding 
$1,000. 

Knowingly  having  possession  of  apparatus  made  use  of  in  forg- 
ing and  counterfeiting — imprisonment  in  state  prison  for  not  less 
than  2  nor  more  than  5  years,  and  fine  n.  e.  $1,000. 

Professional  gambling — imprisonment  for  not  less  than  5  years 
and  disfranchisement  for  any  determined  period,  or  imprisonment 
in  county  jail  not  loss  than  three  nor  more  than  6  months,  and  dis< 
franchisement  as  aforesaid. 

Briber}' — fine  not  exceeding  twice  the  amount  offered  or  received,, 
and  itnprisonment  in  state  prison  for  not  less  than  2  nor  more  than 
10  years. 

Perjury  and  subornation  of  perjury — imprisonment  in  peniten- 
tiary tor  not  less  than  two  uor  more  than  21  years,  and  fine  n(  t 
exceeding  $1,000. 

Simple  mayhem — fine  not  loss  than  $5  and  not  exceeding  $2,000, 
to  which  may  be  added  imprisonment  in  county  jail  not  less  than 
20  days,  nor  more  than  six  months, 

Riot — fine  not  exceeding  $500,  to  which  may  bo  added  impri- 
sonment in  county  jail  not  exceeding  three  months. 

Rout — fine  not  more  than  $1,000,  or  imprisonment  in  county 
jail  not  more  than  00  days. 

AflVay — fine  not  exceeding  $20,  or  Imprisonment  in  county  jail 
not  exceeding  five  days. 

Assault  and  battery — fine  not  exceeding  $1,000,  to  which  may 
bo  addod  imprisoiununt  in  county  jail  not  exceeding  six  months. 

Nuisance — fine  not  exceeding  $1,000. 

All  places  where  intoxicaling  li(|uors  are  sold,  if  I'cpt  in  a  dis- 
orderly niauner,  are  declared  to  bo  nuisances,  and  the  k(>eper  Is 
liable  to  a  fine  of  not  less  than  $20,  nor  more  than  $100  for  any 
day  the  same  is  kept. 

•Selling  unwholeHoine  provisions — fine  not  exceeding  $100. 

Forcihle  entry  or  detainer  —fine  not  exceeding  $1,000. 

MalicioUH  trespiws — fine  not  oxc(>edii»g  two  fold  tlio  valnj  ot  (h(» 
damage  done,  to  which  may  be  added  imprisonment  not  exceeding 
one  year. 

TrespasH  on  lands — fine  of  five  times  the  value  of  the  iiijin-y,  to 
which  may  be  added  imprisonment  not  exceeding  on(^  yeiu'. 

Obalructing  navigable  stivumai — fiuo  nut  Imhh  than  Ihruu   uor 


U  Ml 


(I  ■  I'ir 
I'  ill 


m 


fl 


,7!  ■! 


486 


APPENDIX. 


more  than  five  hundred  dollars  for  each  week  the  obstruction  is 
continued. 

Attempting  to  influence  a  jury  by  bribes,  &c. — fine  not  exceed- 
ing; $500,  and  imprisonment  not  exceeding  six  months. 

Malicious  prosecution — tine  not  exceeding  $1,000,  to  which  may 
be  added  imprisonment  not  exceeding  six  months. 

Common  barratry — tine  not  exceeding  $500,  and  imprisonment 
not  exceeding  six  months. 

Usurpation  of  an  oflice — fine  not  exceeding  $500. 

Living  in  open  and  notorious  fornication  or  adultery — fine  not 
exceeding  $300,  and  imprisonment  not  exceeding  three  months. 

Public  indecency — fine  not  exceeding  $100  and  imprisonment. 

Incest — imprisonment  in  state  prison  for  not  less  than  2  nor 
more  than  10  years,  or  in  county  jail  not  less  than  6  nor  more 
than  12  months. 

Bigamy — imprisonment  in  state  prison  for  not  less  than  2  nor 
more  than  5  years,  or  fine  not  exceeding  $1,000,  and  imprison- 
ment in  county  jail  for  not  less  than  3  nor  more  than  G  months. 

Marriage  between  a  white  person  and  one  having  one-eigiith 
part  or  more  of  negro  blood — imprisonment  for  not  less  than  1 
nor  more  than  10  years,  and  a  fine  not  less  than  one  nor  more  than 
five  thousand  dollars.  i 

Maliciously  injuring  telegraph  polo  or  wire — imprisonment  in 
state  prison  for  not  more  than  two  years,  or  tine  not  exceeding 
$500,  or  imprisonment  in  county  jail  not  less  than  3  nor  more 
than  (>  months. 

Oflicer  voluntarily  permitting  prisoners  to  escape  charged  with 
or  convicted  of  a  crime  the  penalty  of  wJiicii  is  death — imprison- 
ment in  penitentiary  for  not  less  than  10  nor  more  than  21  years. 
In  all  other  cases  of  voluntary  escape,  the  ollicer  permitting  the 
escape  shall  sutler  the  same  punishment  incident  to  the  crime 
with  which  the  prisoner  escaping  shall  have  been  charged  or  con- 
victed. 

Aiding  au  escape  of  a  person,  charged  or  convicted  of  crime,  by 
n  person  not  an  otlicer — imprisonment  for  not  less  than  2  nor  more 
than  21  years  in  the  state  prison. 

Eveiy  criminal  who  shall  escape,  being  contined  in  tin;  state 
prison,  shall,  for  such  escape,  be  imprisoned  not  exceeding  double 
till'  time  for  Avhich  he  was  originally  sentenced,  to  conuuenee  at 
the  en«l  of  the  original  term. 

On  conviction  of  a  feiiude  of  any  one  of  the  crimes  before  men- 
tioned, the  punishment  of  which  is  conlinement  in  the  slate  prison, 
she  may,  instead  of  such  imprisonment,  be  imprisoned  in  the 
county  jail  at  hard  labor  under  the  direction  of  the  jailor. 

When  the  convict  is  under  tin*  age  of  21  .years,  and  the  punish- 
ment is  imprisonment  in  iIk^  state  prison,  im|irisonmenl  in  the 
county  jail  lor  any  determinate  period  nuiy  Ik*  MibHiiluled. 

AVhetiever  any  ptTson  is  imprisoned  in  the  state  prison,  he  or 
(die  shall  be  ke[»t  at  hard  labor  during  such  imprisonment. 


APPENDIX. 


487 


Having  carnal  knowledge  of  an  insane  woman — imprisonment 
iu  state  prison  not  less  than  2  or  more  than  10  years. 


Misdemeanors: 

Dnelling  in  all  its  phases  when  death  does  not  ensne — fine  not 
less  than  $100,  and  imprisonment  in  county  jail  not  exceeding  1 
year,  and  the  p  irty  after  conviction  shall  he  ineligible  to  any 
office  of  profit  oi  trust  not  more  than  3  months. 

Charging  unlawful  toll  or  ferriage — tine  not  exceeding  $100,  or 
imprisonment  not  exceeding  1  month. 

Unlicensed  ferry — fine  not  exceeding  $50. 

Violating  license  law — fine  not  exceeding  $200. 

Selling  liquors  to  minors  or  persons  intoxicated — fine  not  less 
than  $5  or  more  than  $1.5. 

Adulterating  liquors— fine  in  any  sum  not  less  than  $5  or  more 
than  $50. 

Gaming — fine  not  exceeding  $50. 

Keeping  gaming  house — fine  not  less  than  $50  nor  more  than 
$500. 

Horse  racing  upon  highways — fine  not  less  than  $5  nor  nioro 
than  $50. 

Lottery  not  authorized  by  law — fine  not  exceeding  $500. 

Removing  monument  on  boundary  of  land  with  intent  to  destroy 
such  work — fine  not  exccctling  $200,  or  imprisonment  in  county 
jail  not  exceeding  six  nu)ntlis. 

Setting  groinuls  on  fire  with  intent  to  injure  another  person — 
fine  not  exceeding  $50. 

Bringing  paupers  into  tlie  state — tine  $500. 

Attempting  to  ])rocure  abortion — tine  not  more  than  $500  and 
imprisonment  in  jail  not  exceeding  12  nu)ntli8. 

Distiu'liing  religious  meeting — tine  not  less  than  $5  nor  mnn> 
than  $50,  and  imprisonment  in  county  jail,  not  exceeding  thirty 
days,  may  bo  added. 

Removing  dead  bodies  from  place  of  interment  without  proper 
authority — tine  not  exceeding  $1,000. 

Coiuiseling  marringe  between  colored  and  white  persons — lino 
not  less  than  $100  nor  more  than  $1,000. 

Sale  and  conveyance  to  defraud  creditor  or  pureliaser — line  not 
exceeding  $200  and  imprisonment  in  county  jail  not  (>xeeeding 
12  months. 

Ohstru'-ting  process,  freeing  a  person  arrested — tine  not  exceed- 
ing $1,000,  or  imprisoinueni  not  exceeding  six  luoiitlis. 

Nc'gligently  suti'ering  prisoner  to  escape — tint*  not  exceetling 
$1,000. 

Aiding  piisoner  to  escape — tine  not  exceeding  $500,  or  itnpris- 
oiun(>nt  not  exetu'ding  12  months,  or  both. 

Failing  to  assist  in  service  of  process  when  re(|uired — tine  iu 
any  sunt  not  mure  than  $100. 


t   ; 


'.!   i 


4S8 


APPENDIX. 


Returning  to  after  removal  from  lands  mortgaged  to  the  state — 
fine  not  more  than  $100  aud  imprisonment  not  exceeding  thirty 
days. 

Obstrncting  habeas  corpus — fine  not  exceeding  $1,000,  to  which 
may  bo  added  imprisonment  not  exceeding  90  days. 

Violation  of  estray  laws — fine  not  exceeding  $100,  or  iniprisou- 
mcnt  not  exceeding  6  mos. 

Uttering  obscene  books — fine  not  exceeding  $500,  and  if  the 
exhibition  bo  made  to  a  female,  imprisonment  may  bo  added  not 
exceeding  3  mos. 

Failing  to  return  marriage  certificate  and  license — fine  not  less 
than  $5,  nor  more  than  $100. 

Furnishing  false  tickets  to  any  elector  who  cannot  read  the 
English  language — fine  not  less  than  two,  nor  more  than  ono  hun- 
dred dollars. 

Fraudulently  causing  false  vote — fine  not  less  than  ten  nor  more 
than  100  dollars. 

Attempting  to  vote  twice — fine  of  $50  and  disfranchisement  for 
two  years. 

.Fudge  of  an  election  attempting  to  infiuence  an  elector — fine 
not  exceeding  $100. 

Illegal  voting — fine  not  less  than  $5  or  more  than  $100. 

Oflicer  of  election  opening  ticket — fine  in  any  sum  not  cxcodd- 
ing  $100. 

Ollbring  threat  or  reward  to  procure  election — fine  not  exceed- 
ing $500,  and  disfranchisement  for  2  yrs. 

Performing  duties  of  office  before  qualifying — fine  not  exceed- 
ing $1,000. 

Orticer  claiming  what  is  not  due  or  failing  in  duty — fine  not 
exceeding  $1,000,  and  imprisonment  may  bo  added  not  exceeding 
(j  months. 

Auditor,  recorder,  or  clerk,  keeping  their  office  in  any  other 
building  than  that  provided  by  board  of  connnissioncrs — fine  not 
exceeding  $100. 

Count}  officers  purchasing  demands  against  the  county  for  loss 
than  the  face  thereof — tine  not  exceeding  $500. 

Obstructing  highways — fine  not  exceeding  $500,  or  imprisou- 
mont  not  exceeding  3  months. 

Shutting  culvert,  water  gate,  interfering  with,  Ac. — fine  not 
exooeding  $500,  or  imprisonment  not  exceeding  3  months. 

Leading  luiimals  upon  aud  obstructing  tow-path  —  fine  not 
oxceetling  $50. 

Sunervisor  failing  in  keeping  highways  and  bridges  in  his  dis- 
trict in  good  repair — fine  not  less  than  $5,  nor  more  than  $100. 

Signing  or  delivery  false  bill  of  lading — fine  not  exceeding 
$5(Kl. 

Desecrating  cemetery — fine  not  exceeding  $600,  or  imprison- 
ment not  exceeding  (!  months 


APPENDIX; 


489 


Disclosing  telegraphic  dispatch — fine  not  exceeding  $500. 

Changing  inspectors — fine  not  exceeding  $100. 

Keeping  gaming  tables — fine  not  exceeding  $1,000,  to  which 
may  bo  added  imprisonment  not  exceeding  6  months. 

Recording  deed  withont  indorsement  ot'  auditor — fine  $5. 

Carrying  olV  products  of  the  soil  of  another  without  authority 
— fine  not  exceeding  $;'     and  imprisonment  not  exceeding  6  mos. 

Failing  to  give  sworn  list  of  taxable  property — fine  not  exceed- 
ing $500. 

Obstructing  ingress  of  fish  into  any  river  or  creek  emptying 
into  the  Ohio,  by  stretching  any  net  across  such  river  or  creek 
within  one  mile  of  its  mouth — tine  not  less  than  $5,  nor  more  than 
$20  for  every  day  so  obstructed. 

Poisoning  fiftih — line  not  less  than  $5,  nor  more  than  $20. 

Permitting  horses  witn  glanders  to  run  at  large — tine  not  exceed- 
ing  $50. 

Michigan: 
II.  K.  CiiAUKK,  Esq. — The  punishments  annexed  to  the  several 
off  »nses  forbidden  by  law,  appear  in  a  schedule  annexed  hereto. 
In  answering  this  interrogatory,  it  is  assumed  that  it  is  intended 
to  include  all  oil'enses,  whether  denominated  "  crimes  "  or  "  mis- 
demeanors," and  all  offenses  punishable  by  the  general  police  laws 
of  the  state,  and  to  exclude  oflenses  against  nmnicipal  ordinances 
and  enactments  providing  for  the  enforcement  of  satiitary  and 
inspection  laws. 

tSchedtde. 

Of  punishments  prescribed  by  the  laws  of  Michigan,  and  for 
the  offenses  respectively  specified  : 
Death: 

*5,708.  Treason  against  the  slate. 
State  prison  for  life: 

5.711.  Murder  in  first  degree. 

6.723.  Attempt  to  murder  by  poisoning,  &c. 
5,745.  Burning  dwelling  house  at  night. 
6,754.  Burglary  in  the  night,  armed. 

State  prison  for  life,  or  any  term  of  years  loss  than  seven: 

5,J)4i*.  Third  conviction  for  felony,  in  additi(ui  to  punishment 
l)rescribed  for  such  third  offense. 
State  prison  for  life  or  any  term  of  years: 

6.712.  Murder  in  the  second  degree. 

6.724.  Assault  with  intent  to  nmrder.  * 

6.725.  Assault  and  robbery,  being  armed.      • 
6,730.  Kapo. 

6,732.  Abduction  to  compel  marriage. 

6,737.  Poisoning  food  or  drink. 

6,740.  Arson  of  dwelling  house  in  day  time. 

*  Tho  flgurci  r«r«r  to  lootioni  In  tho  Oompllod  Liiwi. 


■M 


m 


'■',  \[ 


490 


APPENDIX. 


5,816,  Counterfeiting  coin. 

5,820.  Perjury  in  capital  case  or  in  cases  where  the  punishment 
in  state  prison  for  life  or  any  term  of  years. 
State  prison  for  any  term  of  years: 

5,745.  Arson  of  dwelling  house  at  night  bj^  person  lawfully  in 
the  house. 

5,747.  Arson  of  church  or  other  public  building  at  night. 
State  prison  not  exceeding  15  years: 

5.726.  Assault  with  intent  to  rol)  or  murder,  being  armed. 

5.727.  Robbery,  not  being  armed. 

5.755.  Burglary,  not  being  armed. 

5.756.  Burglary  in  office,  &c.,  at  night. 
5,763.  Larceny,  second  conviction. 
5,785.  Destroying  vessels. 

5,818.  Counterfeiting,  second  conviction. 
5,820.  Perjury,  in  other  than  cases  enumerated  in  lirst  part  of 
this  section. 

5,822.  Subornation  of  perjury. 
5,871.  Crime  against  nature. 
State  prison  not  exceeding  15  years  or  line  not  exceeding  $1,000, 
or  both: 
5,720.  Manslaughter.  \ 

5,743.  Attempt  to  destroy  an  unborn  child. 
State  prison  not  exceeding  15  years,  or  tine  not  exceeding  $5,000, 
and  county  jail  not  exceeding  one  ycju*: 
5,756.  Fitting  out  vessel  with  intent  that  she  shall  l)o  cast  away. 
State  prison  not  exceeding  15  years,  or  fine  not  exceeding  $1,000, 
and  comity  jail  not  exceeding  1  year: 
5,750.  Attempt  to  connnit  arson. 
State  prison  not  exceeding  fifteen  years,  or  county  jail  not  exceed- 
ing one  year: 
5,870.  Incest. 
State  prison  not  exceeding  14  years,  or  fine  not  exceeding  $2,000, 
or  county  jail  not  exceeding  two  years: 
5,771.  Embezzlement  in  any  state  otHce. 
State  jirison  not  exceeding  14  years,  or  county  jail  not  exceeding 
one  year: 

5.802.  Forgery. 

5.803.  Uttering  forged  instruments. 

State  pri.son  not  exceeding  10  years  nor  less  than  one  year: 

5,5I()8.  Issuing  IVauduli'nt  stock. 

5,!)0!t.  Knowingly  selling  framhilent  stock. 
State  ))ri.s()M  not  exciceding  10  years: 

5,72H,  Assault  M-ith  intent  to  rob,  not  being  armed. 

5,733.  Tnking  a  woman  with  intent  to  eon'ipel  marriage. 

5,711.  FiXposing  child  with  intent  to  abandon. 

5,718.  Arson  of  ehureh  or  public  building  in  day  time. 

5,74!'.  Arson  cf  store,  vessel,  tfec. 

6,753,  Burning  insured  property  with  intent  to  injure  insurer. 


APPENDIX. 


491 


5,759.  Entering  building  at  night  without  breaking,  or  break- 
ing and  entering  in  the  day  time,  with  felonious  intent. 

5,766.  Second  conviction  for  receiving  stolen  goods,  or  con- 
viction at  same  term  of  court  of  three  acts  of  receiving,  &c. 

5,808.  Second  conviction  for  counterfeiting,  or  conviction  at 
same  term  of  court  on  three  charges  of  said  otfense. 

5,907.  Taking  from  state  treasury  or  defacing  Ijonds  deposited 
by  banks.  , 

5,947.  Attempt  to  commit  crime  punishable  by  death. 
State  prison  not  exceeding  10  years,  or  a  fine  not  exceeding  $1,000, 
or  both. 

5,721.  Maiming,  disfiguring  or  aiding  therein. 

5,735.  Kidnapping. 
State  prison  not  exceeding  10  years,  or  fine  not  exceeding  $5,000, 
and  county  jail  not  exceeding  one  year: 

5.775.  Bankers  issuing  bills  illcgall}'. 

5.776.  Issuing  or  circulating  spurious  notes. 
5,788.  Making  false  protest. 

State  prison  not  exceeding  10  years,  or  fine  not  exceeding  $1,000, 
and  county  jail  not  exceeding  one  year,  and  incapable  of 
holding  any  oflSces  in  this  state: 
5,917.  Engaging  in  a  duel;  challenging  to  fight  or  sending  or 
delivering  message  to  fight  a  duel. 

State  pryiion  not  exceeding  10  years,  or  county  jail  not  exceeding 
one  year  and  fine  not  exceeding  $1,000: 
6,770.  Embezzlement  by  officers  or  servant  of  a  corporation. 
5,810.  Making  tools  or  paper  for  counterfeiting  bank  notes. 
State  prison  not  exceeding  10  years  or  fine  not  exceeding  $5,000, 
and  county  jail  not  exceeding  one  year. 

5.783.  Obtaining  property  by  false  pretences. 

State  prison  not  exceeding  10  years,  or  fine  not  exceeding  $500,  or 
county  jail  not  exceeding  one  year,  or  fine  not  exceeding 
$1,000: 
5,740.  Enticing  away  a  child  under  12  years  of  age. 

State  prison  not  exceeding  10  years,  or  line  not  exceeding  $500, 
or  county  jail  not  exceeding  one  year: 

6.784.  Cheat  at  common  law. 

State  i)rison  not  exceeding  10  years,  or  fine  not  exceeding  $1,000: 

5,731.  Assault  with  irtent  to  connnit  rape. 

5,917.  Violating  seals  of  bidlot  box,  destroying  ballots,  or  forci- 
bly adding  or  diminisliing  the  number  of  ballots  legally  deposited. 
State  jirison  not  exceeding  seven  years: 

5,94H.  Second  conviction  for  a  state  prison  oflence,  in  addition 
to  the  punishment  for  such  see  nd  oHonco. 

State  prison  not  exceeding  seven  years,  or  coujity  jail  not  exceed- 
ing one  year; 

5.804.  Forgery  of  any  instrument  Issued  by  a  stale  ollicer. 

5.805.  Forgery  of  any  bank  note. 


492 


APPENDIX. 


5,806.  Having  ten  or  more  counterfeit  notes  in  possession  with 
intent  to  utter. 

State  prison  not  exceeiling  ten  years,  or  county  jail  not  cxceodino' 
one  year,  or  fine  not  excoedinff  $1,000: 
5,940.  Harboring  or  assisting  telon  to  escape  witli  intent  to 
avoid  detection,  arrest,  trial  or  punishment. 
State  prison  not  exceeding  five  years  nor  less  than  one,  or  fine  not 
exceeding  $2,000  nor  less  than  $100,  and  statp  prison  not  less 
than  than  three  nor  more  than  tv/elve  months: 
5,927.  Trespass  on  public  lands. 
State  prison  not  exceeding  five  years,  or  fine  not  less  than  $100 
nor  more  than  $2,000,  and  state  prison  not  less  than  three 
nor  more  than  12  months: 
5,828.  Converting  tree,  timber  or  lumber  from  the  public  lands. 
State  prison  not  exceeding  five  years,  or  county  jail  not  exceeding 
two  years,  and  fine  not  exceeding  $1,000: 
5,777.  Disposing  by  bank  officer  of  insolvent  bank  of  its  pro- 
perty, with  intent  to  defraud  creditors. 

State  prison  not  exceeding  five  years,  or  fine  not  exceeding  $500, 
or  county  jail  not  exceeding  two  years: 
5,738.  Assault  with  intent  to  commit  a  felony. 
State  prison  not  exceeding  five  years,  or  fine  not  exceeding  $5,000, 
and  county  jail  not  exceeding  one  year: 
5,787.  Making  false  bills  of  lading  or  invoice,  Avith  intent  to 
defraud. 

State  prison  not  exceeding  five  years,  or  fine  not  exceeding  $3,000, 
or  county  jail  not  exceeding  one  year: 
5,826.  Bribing  public  officer. 
State  prison  not  exceeding  five  years,  or  county  jail  not  exceeding 
two  years,  or  fine  not  exceeding  $1,000: 
5,709.  Misprision  of  treason. 
State  prison  not  exceeding  five  years,  or  fine  not  exceeding  $1,000, 
and  county  jail  not  exceeding  one  year: 
5,789.  Maliciously  killing  or  maiming  beasts,  by  means  not  par- 
ticularly mentioned  in  this  chapter. 

Question  IV. 

When  there  is  a  considerable  range  in  the  punishments  allowed, 
is  there  found  to  be,  in  practice,  a  wide  diversity  in  the  adminis- 
tration of  the  law  by  different  judges?  Is  there  or  not,  in  your 
judgment,  too  wide  a  range  in  the  discretion  allowed  to  judges  i 

Answers. 

Massachusetts: 

Geouoe  W,  Seaule,  Esq. — There  is  a  very  wide  diversity  and 

no  uniformity  whatever.     In  my  judgment,  there  should  be  no 

range  at  all  by  h-gislaturo,  Imt  the  judge  should  bo  left  freo«to 

temper  the  sentence  exactly  to  the  precise  merits  of  each  case;  or. 


APPENDIX. 


498 


better  still,  the  jury  should  pass  upon  tlio  sentence  at  the  same 
time,  as  upon  the  guilt  of  the  accusctl.  If  there  is  to  bo  a  range 
by  legislative  enactment,  the  larger  it  is  the  better. 

New  Hampshire: 
Hon.  S.  D.  Bell. — There  is  said  to  bo  some  diversity  in  the 
apportionment  of  punishments  in  cases  where  a  wide  discretion  is 
given;  this  is  unavoidable.  Tlie  law  must  tix  a  narrow  range  of 
punishment  for  offences  which  may  have  great  dill'erences  of  charac- 
ter, or  it  nuist  give  a  broader  discretion,  whicli  may  lead  to 
inequalities  of  punishment  arising  from  diil'erenee  of  character  in 
judges.  Errors  may  be  connnitted  by  judges.  The  law  nuist 
often  do  great  wrong  where  little  discretion  is  allowpd. 

Connecticut: 
Walter  Pitkin,  Esq. — The  quality  of  an  offence  is  so  largely 
aflectod  by  the  circumstances  attending  its  commission,  or  out  of 
Avhich  it  arises  in  each  particular  case,  tliat  it  is  diilicult  to  deter- 
mine wimt  is  u  safe  and  reasonable  limit  to  tlie  range  of  })uniKh- 
inent.  It  is  apparent  that  these  circuintitances  of  mitigation  nuist 
be  fewer  and  less  in  degree  in  certain  classes  of  cases  than  in 
others;  but  with  this  exception,  we  must  be  guided  by  experience 
rather  than  by  any  dednite  and  general  principle.  It  is  l)elievcd 
that  the  penalties  of  our  laAV  are  for  the  most  part  judiciously  dis- 
tributed, and  that  in  the  same  classes  of  cases  they  are  adminis- 
tered by  different  judges  with  reasonable  uniformity. 

New  Jersey: 

CouTLANDT  Pakker,  Esq. — Notwithstanding  the  great  range  to 
these  punishments,  there  is  not  foimd  in  practice  any  great  diver- 
sity in  the  administration  of  the  law  by  dillerent  judg(>s;  nor  do  I 
think  there  is  too  wide  a  range  in  the  discretion  permitted.  The 
supreme  court  judges  are  selilom  overruled.  Their  tone  is  apt  to 
govern  the  justices  of  the  sessions,  who  par(icipate  in  deciding 
ui)on  sentences;  and  their  constant  association  with  each  other  in 
the  supieme  court,  tends  to  harmoni/.e  their  ideas  on  this  as  well 
us  on  otlier  subjects.  It  miglit,  perhaps,  be  an  improvement  if  no 
sentences  tiould  l)o  determined  on  without  tlu?  sui)r(^me  court  judge 
concurred.     That  is  the  only  change  I  could  venture  to  suggest. 

John  F.  IlE()i:MAN,Es<i. — I  do  not  think  there  is  foo  iridra  riinf/e 
in  punishment,  allowed  in  the  discretion  of  the  judges.  It  is  pretty 
wide,  but  it  is  not  considered  abused  in  our  state. 

Pennsylvania: 

J.  J.  lUuoLAY,  Esq. — As  the  state  is  divided  into  ninnerous  dis- 
tricts, there  is  a  wide  diversity  in  the  administration  of  tlie  law, 
but  the  range  is  not  too  wide  when  the  number  and  variety  of 
cases  is  taken  into  consideration. 


i;^^  ^ 


494 


APPENDIX. 


Maryland: 

A.  Steulinq  jr.,  Esq. — There  is  a  good  deal  of  ran  wo  in  fho 
punishment.  Rape  and  arson  are,  in  the  discretion  of  tlio  court, 
punished  either  with  death  or  imprisonment,  the  longest  term  of 
penitentiary  confinement,  except  by  an  executive  commutalion  of 
death  penalty,  is  eigliteen  years,  the  minimum  range  from  one  day 
to  eighteen  montlis;  ten  is  the  maximum  in  most  penitentiary 
cases.  Fine,  or  line  and  imprisonment  in  jail,  imprisonment  in 
penitentiary  and  death  are  the  punishments  fixed  for  offences. 
There  is  a  law  on  the  statute  hooks,  the  constitutionality  of  whicli 
is  somewhat  doubted,  now  that  colored  persons,  for  felony  may  bo 
sold  for  a  term  of  years,  but  it  is  practically  obsolete,  and  I  tliink 
cannot  work  harshly  now,  if  oxeciitod.  The  law  allowing  cohu'cd 
persons  to  be  flogged  for  larceny,  is  also  unrepealed,  but  seldom 
carried  out. 

Kentucky: 

E.  Jj.  Van  AV^ixkle,  Esq. — There  is  no  rango  in  piMiishmonls 
allowed  to  the  judges;  the  rango  is  given  to  the  juries,  and  is 
usually  exorcised  on  the  side  of  mercy,  except  in  those  cases  where 
tho  crime  is  attended  by  aggravating  circumstances.  i 

Indiaiia: 

lion.  CoNHAi)  Bakku. — Under  our  system  tho  judges  do  not 
nsHii.ss  the  punishment.  Tho  jury  not  only  finds  as  to  tlio  (luesliou 
of  "guilty"  or  "not  guilty,"  but  where  there  is  a  verdict  of  "guilty,, 
tho  jury  in  that  verdict  assess  cu'  declare  tho  punisi  juent  to  l)o 
inllicted.and  unless  tho  judgment  is  arrested  or  a  new  trial  granted, 
jutlgmont  is  rendered  by  the  court  according  to  tho  verdict. 

This  practice,  if  not  pin-uliar  to  Indiana,  certainly  does  not 
pi'ovail  in  many  of  the  .states.  The  writer  of  this  report  wiis  ihIu- 
cated,  and  j)ractist'(l  for  a  fiiW  years,  in  a  state  where  the  jury 
cnnld  only  find  "guilty"  or  "not  guilty,"  leaving  i\w  assessment 
of  tho  punishniotil  to  llu>  court,  and  wlien  ho  caino  to  Indiana  was 
much  pi'tjudiciMl  against  (ho  pi'actice  which  ho  found  prevailing 
her«'. 

Twenty-liv(>  years  Mubse(pU'nt  eNporieiice  in  tiiisHlato  has,  how- 
cv«M',  cnlircly  chang(<(|  his  opini(Ui  on  this  subject,  and  ho  now 
believes  (hat  porniitting  tho  jury  to  tix  (ho  puniMlunont  is  a  grout 
inij)rovrin('iit  on  (he  old  sysloni. 

(ludor  this  practice,  juries  l'ri'(|Ueu(ly  convic(,  where  they  woidd 
fail  to  agro(>,  or  accpiit,  if  the  <|Ue.s(i(ui  of  tho  anioimt  of  punish* 
inont  were  snliiuit((<d  to  (ho  court. 

Of  coniMo.  there  is  great  divcrsitv  in  the  fimonnt  of  punlsluumt 
HNsessod  by  ditioroul  juriivs  for  crimes  nominally  tln^  same;  bul 
this  div»'rNity  is,  it  is  beli««vod,  iu»  greater  than  (luMlegrees  of  guilt 
of  diderent  persons  nccused  of  the  saiui"  olltuieo. 

In  my  opinion,  the  best  [uaetice  is  (o  authorixo  a  wide  rango  iu 


APPENDIX, 


495 


the  punishment  allowed,  and  then  permit  the  jury  to  fix  the  pun- 
ishment in  each  case  where  they  find  the  defendant  guilty. 

Michigan: 

II.  K.  Clahke,  Esq. — A  wide  diversity  does  exist  in  the  admin* 
istration  of  the  law  hy  different  judges,  some  inclining  to  the 
maximum  limitations  of  punishments  to  bo  inflicted,  and  otliors  to 
the  mininmm.  In  one  year  in  this  stute,  a  iwisoner  charged  with 
nuu'dcr,  hut  convicted  of  manslaughter,  was  punished  by  a  fine  of 
twenty-five  dollars,  while  a  prisoner  in  an  adjoining  circuit,  con- 
victed of  an  assault  with  intent  to  commit  umrder,  was  sentenced 
to  tlie  state  prison  for  fifteen  years.  Yet  the  circumstances  of 
these  cases  may  have  justified  the  leniency  in  the  one  case  aiul  the 
severity  in  the  t)tlier.  No  one  could  judge  of  the  circimistances 
better  than  the  judge  before  wh  )m  the  cases  were  tried;  and  though 
the  wide  diversify  in  the  sentences  may  be  attril)Utable  to  the 
mental  ov  moral  characteristics  of  the  judge,  it  is  difficult  to  see 
how  any  general  concurrence  of  action  in  such  cases  can  be  attained, 
without  opportunities,  which  our  system  does  not  afiord. 

IIknhv  a.  Mouuow,  Esq. — There  is  a  wide  diversify  ui  the 
administiation  of  tlie  law  by  dilleront  judges.  I  cannot  say  that 
in  my  judgment  too  wide  a  range  is  allowed  to  the  discretion  of 
judges  under  the  present  system  of  criminal  procedure.  The 
hcinousness  of  ollences  Is  di'termined  by  the  facts  and  circum- 
stances  by  which  they  are  surrounded;  so  that  It  often  happens 
that  a  particular  offence  coming  within  the  definition  of  a  certain 
crinu',  is,  by  the  facts  and  circumstances  surrounding  it,  robbed  of 
nearly  all  its  furpifiide;  while  another  otVenee,  within  the  samo 
definition  of  crime,  is,  by  facts  and  cireuntstances,  of  a  most 
aggravafetl  nature.  From  this  I  argue  that  great  dist-retion  is  to 
1k>  allowed  the  judges  in  the  lullicfing  of  punishments,  until  a 
more  minute  classlficatlou  of  crimes  has  l)een  hit  upon  by  our  law 
makers. 

(^HKHTIOX    V. 

Are  shei'illM  appointitd  or  *'lecl»>d,  and  for  what  lerm  of  office? 
Which,  ill  your  opinion,  is  the  best  system  ?  Is  lh(>re  any  limit  to 
their  re-eligiln"lify,  or  may  they  be  re-elected  as  often  as  their  con- 
MtitueiitH  elioosu  ? 

Answkus. 
]SIassacIiiis«>ffH  ; 

(1k(».  W.  Skaiii.k.  Eh(i. — SherllTs  are  elected  by  the  people  for 
five  yi'ai's.  'I'licie  is  no  limit  l(»  their  re-election.  In  my  opinion, 
no  h'^^'al  executive  ofllci'i'  should  be  eleefi'd  by  tlie  people.  The 
teni|)tations  to  bend  to  popular  feeling  and  eater  to  the  lowest 
interests  of  tli(<  criniiiial  classes,  during  th(<  teiuir(<  of  otilee,  and, 
especially,  just  before  a  re-election,  in  too  great  to  hope  for  con- 


li'i 


■;    D 


496 


APPENDIX. 


stant  resistance  from  the  men  who  seek  such  offices.  By  this  it  is 
not  intended  to  intimate  tliat  they  are  not  men  of  character,  l)ut 
simply  that  they  are  mostly  men  of  small  nolitlcal  and  party  ser- 
vices, men  used  to  political  management.  Many  here  think  that 
neither  district  attorney  nor  sheriti'  should  be  elective. 

New  Hampshire  : 
Hon.  S.  D.  Bell. — Sheriffs  are  appointed  by  the  governor  and 
council  for  the  tei  mi  of  tivo  years.  They  may  be  re-appoiiilod 
in<leHnit«ly,  but  re-appointments  are  rare.  I  have  no  means  of 
comparing  this  with  any  other  system.  The  office  has  lost  its  con- 
sequence, and  is  chlclly  sought  l)y  the  deputy  sheriffs,  who  often 
resume  their  places  as  deputies  after  serving  a  term  as  sheriff. 

Connecticut  : 

Waltku  Pitkin,  Esq. — It  is  provided  by  an  amendment  of  the 
constitution,  that  sheriffs  shall  l)e  ap[)ointed  by  the  electors  of  the 
several  counties.  They  had  previously  been  appointed  by  th(>, 
general  assembly.     Their  teiiu  of  oUice  is  three  years  and  there 


is  no  limit  to  their  re-eligibility 
N(nv  Jersey 


\ 


CoKTr.ANDT  r.vnKKU,  Ks<|. — Sheriffs  are  elected  yearly.  They 
lire  only  eligible  three  times  in  succession,  and,  by  custom,  they 
are,  with  rare  ex('<<ptions,  elected  three  times  nsamaltiT  ofconrsi'. 
I  do  not  like  the  f^'sli-m.  Shcrills  would  be  mote  independent  in 
their  action,  if  there  was  no  nee»l  of  cultivating  popularity.  It 
uould  bo  b(>tter  to  liavo  tlu'in  elected  at  once  for  three  years 
juul  not  re-eligil)le.  In  p()pulous  cities  and  coiniti«'s,  the  present 
Hvsteiu  of  electing  slu'rills  produces  grave  evils  in  the  administra- 
tion oi'  justici> ;  at  h<iist,  so  it  seems.  Partisans  hav«'  t<)  l>e  eJiosen. 
Cieneridly  the  caudidatcN  M>l(>et(Ml  are  those  most  ])opulMr  witli  tli(> 
most  ignorant  and  carel<\ss  eliHses  ot'  society,  iind  they  tind  it 
necessary  to  propitiate  them.  llene«s  a  worse  selection  of  grand 
nud  net  it  jurors,  So  that  it  bi'comes  soon  to  be  true  that,  as  the 
moral  tone  of  th(>  shei'lV,  so  that  of  the  e(tuuty  itself,  as  expressed 
by  the  action  of  its  «'ourts, 

.loiiN  F.  Ilr.oKMAN,  Ks(|. — .Sherills  are  (d(<eted  for  one  year, 
re-eligil)le  for  three  y<'nrs  only,  I  am  of  opinion  that  this  systeuj 
is  as  good  as  the  other,  and  yet  the  otlie(<  has  nni  down  to  an 
inferior  class  of  men,  in  many,  too  nuuiy,  instances;  but  poliiies 
woubl  perhaps  niak(>  the  appoint nieiits  wors(>,  unless  dtuie  by  (lie 
overnor,  or  sotn«<  other  body  than  joint  meeting  of  the  legis- 
attire, 


I 


Pennsylvania  : 
J.  J.  n\U(i,AV,  Ks(|. — SherilVs  are  elected  for  a  period  of  three 
yourN ;  no  serious  ubjeetion  appears  to  exist  t(»  the  method  by 


APPENDIX. 


497 


which  these  officers  are  elevated  to  office.  A  sheriff  cannot  bo 
re-elected  on  the  expiration  of  his  term  of  office,  but  may  bo 
thereafter. 

Maryhiud : 

A.  Steuling,  Esq. — Sheriffs  are  elected  for  two  years,  and  are 
ineligible  for  re-election.  This  has  been  the  law  for  twenty  years 
and  more.  I  think  there  is  no  material  difference  between  this 
and  the  appointive  system.  The  sheriffs  do  very  well,  though  not 
quite  as  careful  as  they  ought  to  be  in  selecting  jurors.  In  Balti- 
more city,  and  in  one  or  two  counties,  the  juries  are  drawn  by  lot. 

Kentucky : 

E.  L.  Van  Winkle,  Esq. — Sheriffs  are  elected  for  the  term  of 
two  years,  and  are  rc-eligible  f(>i  the  second  term,  then  one  term 
must  intervene  before  re-eligible.  The  system  is  bad,  at  least  it 
has  so  proven  in  Kentucky.  Tlie  appointing  system,  to  which  we 
had  been  accustomed,  proved  far  more  efficient  and  satisfactory. 

Indiana  : 

Hon.  Con  HAD  Bakeu. — Sheriffs  are  elected  for  two  years.  1. 
prefer  elections  to  appointments.  No  person  is  eligible  to  the 
office  of  sheriff  for  more  than  four  years  in  any  period  of  six  years. 

Miclii^oui  : 

II.  K.  O-AUKK,  Efiq. — Shorilfs  are  elected  by  the  people  for  two 
years,  anil  are  iiieiigil»lo  for  u  longer  peri(»d  than  I'our  y«'arsout  of 
any  six.  1  think  election,  with  this  restriction  ui)on  tlieir  re-elec- 
tion, the  licNt  mode  of  selection, 

QlIKHTION   VI. 

IIow  n)uny  Justices  of  the  [teace  are  there  in  each  township? 
How  are  they  chosen,  and  for  how  long  a  term  ?  , 

Answeus, 
MasMat'lnisetls  : 

(}eo.  W.  Skaiu.k,  Esq. — See  "Index  of  general  stalufrs,  titles  ;" 
•'trial  jiiMliieH  ;"  "justices  of  the  peace." 

New  II)inipNliir(»  : 

Hon.  S.  I).  Bkm.. — Justices  of  the  peace  are  appointed  by  th(< 
governor  and  council  for  the  term  of  live  yeain.  Tlicy  may  be 
ami  ur4inilly  are  reappointed.  There  is  no  limit  to  the  nuinli(>r  in 
any  town  or  comity.  They  ore  thought  to  be  too  numerouH. 
There  aie  in  tliis  plucr,  with  a  population  not  exereding  2I),00(>, 
120  JiinI ices.  TIh<  bu.sineNs,  civil  and  criminal,  is  ccintiniMl  in  the 
cities  to  the  poliie  I'ourtM,  but  not  so  iu  tho  towns  gvuurullyi 

[Asseiir.  No.  aS.J  82 


i|f     ' 


li^. 


'11 


493 


APPENDIX. 


Connecticut : 
Walteu  Pitkin,  Esq. — Justices  of  the  peace  are  chosen  once  in 
two  years,  by  the  electors  of  tlio  scvoral  towns,  the  number  for 
each  being  equal  to  the  number  of  jurymen  prescribed  by  hiw  for 
such  town.  The  inhabitants  of  any  town  may,  at  a  meeting  speci- 
ally called  for  that  purpose,  reduce  the  number  of  justices  to  be 
thereafter  chosen. 

New  Jersey ; 
CoRTLANDT  Pahker,  Esq. — Justiccs  of  the  peace  are  elected 
c.^ch  for  five  years,  not  more  than  five  in  each  township. 

John  F.  IlaoEMAN,  Esq. — Not  less  than  two  nor  more  than  Jive 
juMices  in  each  toumship,  but  where  there  are  more  than  7,000 
Inhabitants,  one  more  for  every  3,000  inhabitants  are  chosen  for 
^ffvv  ymrs  b}'  the  people. 

Pennsylvania :  • 

J.  J.  Bauolav,  Esq. — This  question  cannot  bo  answered  without 
refereii'^e  to  special  acts  of  assembly.  They  are  elected  for  terms 
of  five  years. 

Maryland  : 
A.  STERUNd,  jr.,  Esq. — .Justices  of  the  peace  are  appointed  by 
(he  governor   for  two  yer.rs.     From    1W50   to    18G4  they   were 
elected. 

■..■{  .    '       ■ 

Kentucky : 
E.  L.  Van  Winkle,  Esq. — We  have  two  jtiHtices  in  eiich  town- 
ship or  election  precinct,  who  are  elected  by  the  people  for  a  term 
of  four  years. 

Indiana : 
Hon.  CoNKAi)  Haker. — .Tustlces  of  tin'  peace  are  elected  by  the 
peopU*  for  four  years.  The  nuinlier  of  jiistieeH  l\)r  eiuli  township 
is  regulated  l>y  the  board  of  eommissjoners  of  (luM'ounty  ;  luit  the 
nuiiil)erslmll  not  exceed  three  for  each  township,  and  on«Midditioiiiil 
(  ne  for  each  incorporated  town  (herein. 

Miehigiin  : 
11.  K.  C'l.AHK,  Eh(|,  —Four  In  each  township;  elHJsen  by  the 
people,  one  annually  to  serve  tor  four  years. 

(^UEHTION    VII. 

What  proportion  of  persons  indicted  is,  on  the  averag»',  brought 
to  trial  ?  0 


Mussaohusctts 


APPENDIX. 
Answers. 


499 


Geo.  W.  Seaule,  Esq. — For  nnswor  to  this  question  soo  3  vols, 
of  iiniuiul  reports  of  the  attoruoy  geucrul,  in  library  of  the  Asso- 
ciation. 

New  Hampshire  : 

Hon.  S.  D.  Bell. — No  statistics  are  within  my  reach  from  which 
I  would  bo  able  to  say  what  proportion  of  those  indicted  are  tried. 

Connecticut: 
Walter  Pitken,  Esq. — Of  persons    indicted,   an  average  of 
throe-fourths  are  brought  to  trial.     This  estimate  includes  those 
who  plead  guilty  on  arraigiuuent. 

Now  Jersey: 

CoRTLANDT  Parker,  Esq. — I  reply  to  the  interrogatories  VH 
to  XVH,  inclusive.  They  involve  the  practical  merits  of  our 
criminal  code  and  our  administration  of  justice  in  criminal  cases. 

In  the  rural  counties,  very  few  persons  are  indicted,  but,  with 
occasional  exceptions,  all  indicted  are  brought  to  trial.  N(»  aver- 
age can  bo  stated.  I  verily  believe  that  few  who  «)iight  to  be 
r  >nvicted  escape.  Disagreeing  juries  are  very  rare.  At  least  half 
of  those  arraigned  plead  guilty,  tlrst  or  last.  A  practice  of  tak- 
ing pleas  to  oll'ences  of  a  lower  gra<le  than  thosi*  cliargetl,  to 
which  allusion  is  made  in  query  No.  lU.  does  not  exist.  No  suspi- 
cion has  ever  been  suggested,  to  my  knowle«lge,  that  any  prose- 
cuting ofKcer  in  New  Jersey  failed  in  his  duty  in  this  respect. 
Very  few  persons  charged  with  homieido  are  not  convicted.  Mur- 
der, in  the  first  degree,  soblom  happens.  When  it  <loes — when 
the  killing  is  (ivfualh/  willful,  premeditated,  and  delilterate,  the 
culprit  is  almost  always  eonvict<'d;  and,  if  convicted,  executed. 
There  are  eases  coming  within  tht;  legal  definition  of  "willful, 
deliberate  and  premeilitattd  kil'ing,"  which  do  not  satisfy  the 
popidar  idea  of  thost>  wortls.  Tliey  an^  cases  when^  tlir  intent  to 
kill  was  sudd(<nly  formed  and  instantly  ex(«cuted,  or  where  great 
provocation  or  extenuation  existed.  In  such  (tases,  verdicts  have 
nutstly  been  "  nmrd(>r  in  the  second  degree,"  And  that  verdict 
has  once  been  rendered  in  a  <'ase  whtM'e  a  yoimg  irnviini  was  guilty 
of  noisiming — while  the  verdict  "not  guilty,  by  reason  of  in- 
sanM;,,"  has  bc(>n  Virniirid  where  a  scut  of  "wild  jn.Mlie(>"  has 
(^haracteri/ed  th(>  case,  as  in  Mercer's  cas«<  for  shooting  lli^berton; 
Spencer's  for  killing  his  wile;  and  (it  has  b(>en  thought  liy  some) 
tln^  case  of  Margaret  (Jarrity  for  destroying  her  seducer.  In  nil 
these  cases,  1  should  observe,  espetMidly  the  last,  tint  a<!t*used 
H(>(Mned  ratl'.tu'  an  executioner  of  what  ought  to  Ite  the  hw,  than 
the  prey  (  f  an  evil   heart.     Nor  are  convictions  ur  executions, 


600 


APPENDIX. 


after  convictions  are  had,  long  or  improperly  delayed.  Writs  of 
error,  in  capital  cases  are  duly  granted  for  evidently  good,  that  is 
fairly  debatable  cause.  Technical  difKcultics  ore  seldom  allowed 
to  delay  punishment.  It  is  not  customary  to  send  cases  back  and 
forth  between  criminal  courts  of  diiferent  grades.  Causes  may  be 
removed  inmiediately  after  indictment  to  the  supreme  court.  But 
good  reason  must  exist  then,  and  the  time  gained  is  trivial.  It  is 
a  consequence  of  this  promptness  and  all  but  certainty  of  convic- 
tion and  punishment,  that  the  law  with  us  is,  indeed,  a  "  terror  to 
evil  doers."  I  make  no  vain  boast  when  I  claim  for  my  native 
state  that  nowhere  else  in  the  civilized  world  are  the  rights  of 
citizens  better  protected,  and  their  wrongs  more  promptly  and 
certainly  avenged.  Our  locality,  posted  as  wo  are  between  and 
contiguous  to  the  two  largest  cities  of  the  continent,  exposes  us 
to  be  resorted  to  by  many  vicious  strangers.  And  there  is  no 
denying  that  what  has  l)een  said  can,  with  less  propriety,  bo 
lussicrted  of  the  border  counties,  Hudson  and  Camden.  Their 
population  is  necessarily,  suburltan  in  character,  habits  and  senti- 
ments. Yet  even  there  what  has  been  said  is  mainly  correct,  and, 
I  think,  growing  more  so. 

Our  people,  for  the  most  part,  believe  in  the  propriety  of  capi- 
tal punislunent  for  willful  murder,  aiul  have  no  qualms  respecting 
circumstantial  evidence.  And  I  am  very  much  mistaken,  if  the 
belief  that  with  us,  crimiiud  justice  is  sternly  administered,  does 
not  detei-  many  citizens  of  other  states  from  venturing  to  conunit 
crime  within  our  bounds.  During  the  last  nine  years,  f)nly  nine 
indictments  for  nuirder  have  been  found  in  the  populous  manufac- 
turing county  of  Essex,  which  contains  al)out  12(),0('()  people. 
(Jne  was  abandoned,  because  the  party  accused  was  evidently  a  lu- 
natic; a  mother  who  nearly  cut  otf  her  child's  head  to  keep  it  from 
imaginary  poverty.  Three  resulted  in  convictions  of  nuird(>r  in 
the  Hrst  degree,  and  the  speedy  execution  of  the  culprits.  All  the 
others  are  eases  in  which  the  killing  did  not  appear  to  be  delibe- 
rate in  (he  ordinary  sense  of  that  word,  and  resulted  in  convictions 
f(tr  murder  in  the  second  degree  or  manslaughter,  except  that  one 
man  indicted  us  accessory  before  the  fact  was  not  wrongfully  ac- 
(piitted,  and  one  woman  was  acquitted  of  infanticide. 

In  tlu>  populous  comities  of  thi>  Statt;,  such  as  Kssex,  in  which  is 
Newark  and  Hudson  whichconlain.F'"'Ncy  City  andlloboken,  many 
])ersons  indicted  are  not  found,  •fudging  from  my  own  experience, 
about  one-lU'th  of  the  indictments  found,  are  not  brought  to  trial 
for  this  reason.  Of  those  tried,  pcrhans  the  sanu<  pnqxutioM 
escape  conviction.  About  thrcefd'ths  ot  those  arraigned,  pluud 
guilty  either  at  once,  or  wluui  aliout  to  be  tried. 

John  V.  IJKOKMAN,  KsQ. — I  should  estimate  that  in  Mercer 
<'oiinty,  eight  in  ten  of  per^uns  indicted  are  brought  tu  trial  un  an 
average. 


APPENDIX. 


501 


Pennsylvania: 

J.  J.  Barclay,  Esq. — It  is  impossible  to  answer  this  question 
without  un  extensive  examiniition  into  the  criminal  statistics  of  the 
state.     In  Philadelphia  county,  more  than  half. 

Maryland: 

A.  Sterling,  Jr.,  Esq. — Those  indicted  arc  generally  bronght 
to  trial.  Some  escape  by  forfeiting  bail,  but  I  think  not  many. 
Generally,  if  escapes  take  place,  it  occurs  between  the  action  of 
the  justice  of  the  peace  and  the  action  of  the  grand  jury.  The 
justices  not  being  as  careful  in  taking  bail  as  the  court  is,  and  the 
private  interests  of  prosecutors  and  of  detective  officers  saving 
many  from  being  indicted. 

Kentucky: 

E.  L.  Van  Winkle,  Esq. — About  two-thirds  of  those  indicted 
arc  brought  to  trial.  The  projiortion  varies  and  is  fro(piently 
anything  but  proportionate  in  dilferent  districts. 

Indiana: 

Hon.  Conrad  Baker. — A  large  proportion  of  the  persons  in- 
dieted  are  brought  to  trial,  but  the  exact  proportion  I  cannot  state. 

Michigan: 

H.  R.  Clarke,  Escj. — My  professional  employments  for  the  last 
ten  or  twelve  years  liavc  not  been  such  as  to  enal)lo  mc  to  answer 
this  interrogatory.    (See  Gen.  Morrow's  answer,  below.) 

IIeniiy  a.  Morrow,  Esq. — A  v<'i*y  large  pi-oportion  of  the  per- 
sons iufornml  against  are  brought  to  trial.  Under  the  oUl  system 
of  grand  juries,  tlio  docket  of  every  term  of  court  showed  tliat  a 
large  number  of  those  indicted  were  not  brought  to  trial,  l>ut 
under  the  iiifonnation  system,  there  are  very  few  persons  info.:ned 
against,  who  are  not  brought  to  trial. 

tillKHTlON   VIII. 

Of  the  tried,  what  proportion  is  convicted  an<l  what  aiiquitted  ? 
Ill  what  percentage  of  cases  are  juries  unable  to  agree? 

Anhwers. 
Massachusetts : 

Gko,  \V,  Ssaulk,  Esq. — See  attorney  general's  roporta. 

•'      Now  TTampshh'o : 
lion.  S.  D.  Bell. — unable  to  say  what  proportion  arc  ooquitted. 


IUa 


502 


APPENDIX. 


Connecticut : 

"Walter  Pitkin. — Of  criniinnls  brought  to  trijil,  about  ono  in 
six  is  acquitted.  Juries  fail  to  agree  in  about  one  (criminal)  oanu 
in  twenty. 

New  Jersey : 

For  Mr.  Parker's  nn8\>*cr,  sec  answers  to  question  VII,  Now 
Jersey,  supra. 

John  F.  Heoeman,  Esq. — Of  those  trieil,  ineUuling  those  who 
pleail  guilty,  three-foiu'ths  are  convicted  ;  not  one  in  a  huntlreil 
cases  are  juries  unable  ultimately  to  agree.  Upon  the  Jiml  trial 
perhaps  2  in  20  would  not  agree. 


Pennsylvania: 

J.  J.  Bakclay,  Esq. — The  same  answer  as  above, 
phia  county  not  more  than  a  Miird. 


In  Philadel- 


Maryland  : 
A.  Steiilino,  Jr.,  Esq. — I  cannot  give  an  accurate  answer  to 
this  question  as  to  the  proportion  convicted.  I  think  a  tnajorify 
of  those  indicted  are  convicted,  perhaps  two-thirds.  The  disagree- 
ment of  juries  is  not  connnon  here,  perhaps  not  noticed  so  much, 
as  a  large  part  of  our  criminal  cases  are  tried  before  the  court; 
the  prisoner  having  the  right  to  try  his  case  before  the  Judge  at 
his  election,  no  matter  what  the  otlence,  and  in  fact  a  large  part 
are  tried  before  the  court,  which  of  course  leaves  a  smaller  part 
for  juries  to  disagree  about.  The  disagreements  of  juries  are  duo 
mainly  to  the  cU8tom  of  letting  cases  drag  along  for  days,  so  that 
each  man's  mind  becomes  tixed;  and  as  juries  are  genendly  allowed 
to  separate  at  the  adjournment,  they  get  tixed  in  their  opinions 
without  conferences,  and  are  Itesides  subject  to  be  tampered  with; 
and  after  they  have  been  kept  together  for  a  h»ii<j;  time  before  the 
trial  has  ended,  the  judges  do  not  like  to  keep  tiicm  shut  up  long, 
and  the  hope  of  an  early  discharge  is  an  inductiuent  not  to  agree. 
I  think,  in  civil  cases,  two-thirds  of  a  jury  ought  to  be  competent 
to  a  verdict,  or  we  nmst  go  back  to  the  old  practice  of  locking 
them  up  all  the  time,  trying  a  case  rapidly,  and  refusing  to  dis- 
charge for  a  long  white.  The  <lisagreements  have  happened  mainly 
in  civil  cases,  and  the  reasons  are,  I  think,  as  I  have  given  them. 

Kentucky  : 
E.  L.  Van  Winkle,  Esq. — The  proportion  convicted  varies  in 
different  districts,  and  often  in  the  same  district.  In  cities  where 
crime  abounds,  the  propfution  of  convictions  is  much  larger  than 
in  the  rural  districts.  Near  two-thirds  are  convicted  in  the  form«>r, 
and  not  half  in  the  latter,  except  at  periods  when  such  cominuui- 
tics  exhibit  an  ubnormul  uunditiou  from  crime. 


APPENDIX. 

603 

On 
ouco  i 

nil  nvorngo 
11  four  or  Hv 

I  would  think  that 
0  times. 

juries 

nro 

unnbl«  to 

ftgrec 

'I'  ! 


Iiulituiii : 

Hon.  CoNiun  IUkku. — I  cuniiot,  lor  want  of  sulisfuotory  stjitis- 
tioiil  returns,  give  thu  proportion  c<»nvii't(ul  and  tito  proportion 
acquitted,  nor  can  I  give  the  poroentagu  of  oasos  in  wliii^li  juries 
uru  nnahlu  to  agree. 

8o  far  as  my  knowledge  extends,  the  ilisagitHMut^nt  of  juries  has 
not  been  so  frequent  as  toattraet  mneh  attention,  or  to  eonsHtute 
a  serious  impediment  in  the  administration  of  the  erimlmd  laws. 

New  Jersey  : 

For  Mr.  Parker's  answer,  see  answer  to  question  VII,  New 
Jersey,  nKjmt. 

Miehigan : 

IIknuy  a.  Mouuow,  Esq. — A  largo  proportion  of  those  informed 
against  are  convieted.  lUit  tliis  depends  upon  the  honesty  and  in- 
telligenco  of  the  examining  magistrate,  who  discharges  or  holds 
the  party  over  to  tiie  eireuit  eourt.  It'  ho  is  intelligent  and  honest, 
he  will  only  hold  over  to  appear  at  the  circuit  eourt  such  porsons 
us  on  the  testimony  before  him  would  be  convieted  of  the  crime 
charged.  Juries  disagree  in  comparatively  few  cases,  and  rarely, 
except  in  eases  where  the  testimony  is  of  a  conflieting  character, 
or  in  cases  where  eminent  counsel  arc  employed  and  great  [>ublic 
interest  hiM  been  elicited.  I  have  sometimes  thought  that  many 
disagreements  of  juries  wore  caused  by  the  persons  being  intlu- 
eneed  by  the  argument  of  counsel  or  otherwise,  rather  tnan  by 
any  real  doubt  they  have  as  to  the  weight  of  evidence.  In  oth(>r 
words,  they  coas«i  to  be  jmlyes  of  (ho  facts,  and  become  advuaUcH 
of  one  side  or  the  other. 

(iiJKH'rroN  IX. 

Of  persons  arraigned,  what  proportion  plead  guilty,  and  arc 
eunviclud  on  confession? 

Anhwhuh. 
MaHsachusetts: 

Okoimim  W.  Seaulk,  Es(|. — 8oe  Attornoy-Oonerars  reports. 

Now  ILunpshiro: 

Hon.  8.  I).  Hkij..~^I  uni  unable  to  say  what  proportion  of  the 
uooused  plead  guilty,  or  do  not  contend. 

Conncoticut: 
Wai.tkk  Pitkkn,  Esq. — Moro  than  one-half  of  those  arraigned 
ploud  guilty  and  uro  couviutud  without  tiiul. 


I :  !l 


rA  vt 


504 


APPENDIX. 


New  Jersey: 
For  Mr.  Parker's  answer,  see  Question  VII,  New  Jersey,  supra. 
John  F.  HEGEaojf,  Esq. — Of  those  arraigned,  about  one-fourth 
only  plead  guilty,  and  are  convicted  on  their  own  confession. 


Pennsylvania: 
J.  J.  Barclay,  Esq. — The  same  answer  as  above, 
phia  county,  a  very  small  propoi'tion. 


In  Philadel- 


Maryland: 
A.  Sterling,  Jr. — Of  persons  arraigned  for  felony,  a  small  pro- 
proportion  plead  guilty.     In  offenses  punished  by  tine,  the  large 
majority  plead  guilty. 

Kentucky: 
E.  L.  Van  Winkle,  Esq. — The  proportion  that  plead  guilty  is 
small — say  one  iu  twenty. 

Indiana: 
Hon.  Conrad  Baker. — A  large  proportion  of  those  convicted 
plead  "  not  guilty,"  but  the  proportion  I  cannot  state.  . 

Michigan: 

Henry  A.  Morrow,  Esq. — The  percentage  of  those  arraigned 
who  plead  guilty  is  small.  The  chances  for  escape  are  so  many 
that  great  criminals  never  and  lesser  ones  seldom  plead  guilty.  It 
is  in  cases  where  the  parties  are  indifferent  as  to  their  fate,  or 
•  where  the  influence  of  friends  is  exerted  in  that  direction  that 
this  plea  is  entered.  Under  the  laws  of  Michigan,  counsel  are 
assigned  to  poor  criminals,  to  bo  paid  by  the  county.  There  "ire 
always  lawyers  anxious  for  such  cases.  The  facility  with  which 
counsel  is  procured  deter  many  from  pleading  guilty  who  would 
otherwise  do  so. 

Question  X. 

Do  those  who  plead  guilty  generally  i)lead  to  the  oflensos  with 
which  they  stand  charged,  or  to  others  of  a  lower  graile?  If  of 
a  lower  grade,  can  you  suggest  any  reason,  connected  with  the 
prosecution  of  the  charge? 

Answers.  .^ 

Massachusetts: 
Qeoroe  W.  Searle,  Esfj. — See  Attorney-General's  reports. 

New  Hampshire. 
Hon.  8.  D.  Bell. — Prisoners  who  plead  guilty  generally  limit 
their  plea  to  the  lowest  grade  of  offense  charged,  whore  the  prose- 


J* 


APPENDIX. 


608 


cutor  can  be  induced  to  accept  such  plea.  Various  reasons  may 
lejjd  to  the  acceptance  of  such  a  plea.  Perhaps  the  most  usual  and 
forcible  is  a  doubt  of  the  prosecuting  officer  whether  his  evidence  is 
such  that  he  can  obtain  a  conviction.  In  some  cases  probably  a  satis- 
factory adjustment  with  the  prosecutor,  as  the  restoring  of  stolen 
property,  may  lead  to  the  acceptance  of  such  a  plea,  and  not  rarely 
the  anxiety  of  parties  and  witnesses  to  avoid  the  trouble  and  ex- 
pense of  attending  court. 

Connecticut: 

Walter  Pitkin,  Esq. — Criminals  plead  guilty  generally  of  the 
offenses  with  which  they  stand  charged.  It  is  a  matter  of  discre- 
tion with  the  judge  to  receive  a  plea  to  an  inferior  offense,  and 
the  reasons  which  influence  the  exercise  of  their  discretion  are 
various,  but  have  relation  usually  rather  to  the  circumstances  of 
the  prisoner  than  to  "the  prosecution  of  the  charge." 

Now  Jersey: 

John  F.  Heoeman,  Esq. — Those  that  plead  guilty,  of  course, 
generally  plead  guilty  to  the  count  containing  a  lower  grade  of 
crime,  when  there  are  more  counts  than  one,  or  where  the  nature 
of  the  indictment  allows"  a  plea  to  a  lower  grade  of  crime  involved 
in  the  main  charge.  The  reason,  of  course,  is  to  escape  the  higher 
penalty  for  the  higher  offense.  It  is  a  kind  of  compromise  be- 
tween the  state  and  the  defendant,  and  where  a  conviction  is  doubt- 
ful, it  is  often  advisable  to  take  such  a  plea  on  the  part  of  the 
state. 

Pennsylvania; 
J.  J.  Barclay,  Esq. — Generally,  pleas  of  guilty  are  pleaded  to 
the  offense  with  \lhich  the  prisoner  stands  charged.     In  cases  of 
murder,  of  course,  the  prisoner  will  not  plead  guilty  to  the  highest 
grade  of  crime. 

Maryland: 

A.  Sterling,  Esq.— The  reason  is,  I  think,  that  the  lighter  the 
punishment  the  more  the  inducement  to  plead  guiUy.  It  is  done 
mainly  to  diminish  exposure,  save  costs,  and  get  lighter  punish- 
ment; and  in  some  classes  of  misdemeanors,  such  as  baAvdy  house, 
selling  liquors  on  Sunday,  &c.,  these  facts  arc  generally  so  clear 
that  the  party  has  no  object  in  standing  trial. 

MM 

Kentucky: 

E.  S.  Van  Winkle,  Esq.-— -When  they  plead  guilty,  it  is  gen- 
crally  with  the  view  of  inducing  the  jury  to  fix  the  shortest  period 
of  confinement,  or  with  the  hope  of  indemnity  against  other 
charges  then  pending. 


606 


APPENDIX. 


Indiana: 

Hon.  CoNKAD  Baker. — ^Those  who  plead  "guilty,"  generally 
plead  to  the  offense  with  which  they  stand  charged,  and  not  others 
of  a  lower  grade. 

Michigan: 

H.  A.  Morrow,  Esq. — ^It  cannot  be  said  that  there  is  any  rule  on 
this  subject.  The  discretion  lodged  in  the  hands  of  the  judges 
makes  it  immaterial,  as  a  general  thing,  whether  he  pleads  guilty 
to  a  higher  or  lesser  offense,  so  far  as  punishment  is  concerned; 
and  I  have  never  discovered,  except  in  occasional  cases,  where  the 
party  was  a  novice  in  crime,  that  the  magnitude  or  grade  of  the 
crime  had  much  influence  on  the  mind  of  the  criminal.  In  nine 
cases  out  of  ten,  the  punishment  alone  influences  the  mind  of  the 
criminal,  and  he  is  utterly  indifferent  to  the  fact  whether  he  is 
charged  with  a  higher  or  lessre  offense. 

Question  XI. 

Of  persons  charged  with  homicide,  what  proportion  is  con- 
victed?    What  proportion  executed? 


Answers. 
Massachusetts: 
Geo.  W.  Searle,  Esq. — See  attorney  general's  report. 


\ 


New  Hampshire: 
S.  D.  Bell. — No  data  are  within  reach  to  enable  one  to  state 
what  proportion  of  persons  charged  with  homicide  are  convicted, 
or  what  proportion  are  executed.  In  general,  it  may  be  nuid  that 
trials  of  this  kind  are  not  frequent.  Many  ^rsons  drawn  as 
jurors  have  concientious  scruples  in  relation  to  capital  punishment. 
Many  others  assent  to  verdicts  of  guilty  with  great  hesitation. 
Convictions  of  manslaughter  and  murder  in  the  second  degree,  are 
usual  where  any  pretence  for  them  is  found.  Executions  are  rare; 
they  cannot  take  place  within  a  year  after  sentence,  which  cives 
large  opportunity  for  applications  for  some  modification  ot  the 
sentence. 

Connecticut:  ^ 

Walter  Pitkin,  Esq. — In  the  minority  of  capital  oases,  the 
convictions  are  of  murder  in  the  second  degree,  for  which  the 
penalty  is  imprisonment  for  life.  In  a  small  proportion  of  the 
cases  of  conviction  of  murder  in  the  first  degree  the  extreme  pen* 
alty  has  been  commuted  to  imprisonment  for  life. 

New  Jersey: 
John  F.  Heoeman,  Esq. — Of  persons  charged  with  homicide, 
four  in  six  are  convicted.    Of  those  convicted  of  murder  in  the 


APPENDIX. 


607 


first  degree,  three  in  four  are  hung.     Of  those  convicted  of  man' 
slaughter,  14  in  15  at  least,  are  imprisoned,  perhaps  more. 

Pennsylvania: 

J.  J.  Barclay,  Esq. — In  Philadelphia  county,  almost  all  the 
persons  charged  with  murder,  are  convicted  of  murder  in  the  sec- 
ond degree,  or  manslaughter.  Capital  convictions  are  not  numer- 
ous,  though  in  the  last  two  years  several  have  been  thus  convicted; 
but  in  nearly  every  case  no  execution  has  taken  place,  sometimes, 
because  of  a  doubt  as  to  the  guilt  of  the  prisoner;  sometimes  be- 
cause  of  a  doubt  as  to  the  grade  of  the  crime;  and  often  because 
of  the  interference  of  persons  whose  judgment  is  paralyzed  by  a 
mistaken  view  of  the  object  of  punishment. 

Maryland: 
No  answer. 

Kentucky: 

E.  L.  Van  Winkle. — The  proportion  convicted  of  mui  ler  ia 
small,  say  one  in  ten,  or  hardly  that  proportion.  If  the  .  i.  3um- 
stanccs  allow  of  a  conviction  of  manslaughter — the  punisl. ^mjit  for 
which  is  contincment  in  the  penitentiary — the  jurit  nre  much  more 
inclined  to  convict  of  the  latter  offence. 

Threc'fourths  of  those  convicted  of  murder  are  executed — per- 
haps a  greater  proportion  than  that.  Unless  reversed  by  the 
appellate  court,  the  judgment  is  executed,  except  in  rare  instances. 

Indiana: 
Hon.  Conrad  Baker. — I  cannot  state  what  proportion  of  persons 
charged  with  homicide  are  convicted.  8o  far  as  my  knowledge 
extends,  improper  acquittals  are  not  of  very  frequent  occurrence, 
although  they  sometimes  occur.  Murder  in  the  first  degree  being 
the  only  homicide  in  which  the  death  penalty  can  bo  inflicted,  and 
the  jury  having  in  this  a  discretion  t'"  inflict  that  penalty  or  impri- 
son in  the  penitentiary  for  life.  Of  o«  ;Mv,e,  the  proportion  of  cases 
in  which  there  are  executions  is  sniail.  I  cannot  state  what  the 
proportion  is,  but  can  only  say  that  there  have  been  a  nuiuber  of 
executions  in  this  state  since  1>^  ^6,  at  which  time  the  discretion 
above  mentioned  in  cases  of  mirder  in  the  first  degree  was  given 
to  juries. 

Michigan: 

H.  A.  Morrow,  Esq. — The  proportion  of  convictions  depends 
upon  the  grade  of  the  crime.  The  laws  of  Michigan  divide  homi- 
cide into  murder  in  the  first  degree,  murder  in  the  second  degree, 
and  manslaughter.    The  punishment  for  the  first  is  solitary  con- 


508 


APPENDIX. 


fineinent  for  life.  Coniparntively  few  convictions  for  murder  in 
the  first  tlegreo  take  place  in  Michigan,  arising,  no  doubt,  from 
the  awful  character  of  the  punishment,  and  from  the  fact  that  the 
killing  must  be  found  by  the  jury  to  have  been  "  willful,  deliberate 
and  premeditated  "  to  warrant  a  conviction.  Sentence  in  this  grade 
of  crime  usually  follows  conviction. 

Question  XII. 

In  what  classes  of  offences  is  the  disproportion  between  the 
arrested  and  the  convicted  apt  to  bo  greatest — those  of  a  higher 
or  lower  grade  ? 

Answers. 
Massachusetts: 

Geo.  W.  Seakle,  Esq. — See  attorney  general's  report. 

New  Hampshire: 

Hon.  S.  I).  Bell. — No  data  for  an  answer  to  the  twelfth  ques- 
tions are  within  reach. 

Connecticut: 
Waltku  PrrKiN,  Ksq. — The  disproportion  between  the  arresanl 
and  convicted  is  greatest  in  offences  of  a  lower  grade,  l)y  a  ratio 
of  ton  to  one.  Informations  in  these  classes  of  cases  are  sometimes 
procured  through  malice  or  accidental  misrepresentation,  and  the 
circumstances  not  being  generally  wo  well  defined  as  in  more  atro- 
cious crimee,  there  is  more  danger  of  mistaking  the  exact  nature 
of  the  oll'cncc. 

New  Jersey: 
For  Mr.  Parker's  answer  see  Question  VII,  New  Jersey,  fiiipro. 

John  F.  Heokman,  Ksq. — In  my  experience,  strange  to  (say,  the 
dispropcu'tion  between  the  arrostetl  and  the  convicted  is  generally 
greatest  in  the  lower  grade  of  crime. 

Pennsylvania: 
J.  J.  Hauclay,  Ksq. — Those  of  the  higher  grade.  , 

Maryland:  ^ 

A.  IStki{MN(»,  Ksq. — The  larger  propcu'tion  of  ciuivietions  is  in 
larceny.  Fewer  of  those  indicted  for  this  are  ac(|uitteil  on  trial 
than  of  any  other.  I  think  tlu«  proportion  of  acquittals  is  larger 
in  the  Ntualler  otl'enccn,  partly  l>ecaUHe  the  worst  cases  of  those 
plead  guilty. 

Koufueky: 
K.  L.   Van  Winkle,  Ksq. — The  proportion  of  eonvietlon*  is 


APPENDIX 


509 


greatest  in  crimes  of  tlio  lower  grade.     Convictions  for  murder 
and  perjury  are  rare. 

Indiana: 
Hon.  CoNUAD  Raker. — To  the  twelfth  question  I  can  give  no 
satisfact<»ry  answer. 

Mieliigan: 
No  answer. 


Question  XIII. 

What  is  about  the  average  length  of  imprisonment  previous  to 
trial  ? 

Answeks. 
Massachusetts: 
Geo.  W.  Skaulk,  Esq. — See  attorney  general's  report. 

New  Hampshire: 
H«)U.  S.  I).  IJell. — No  dala  for  an  answer  (o  the  thirteenth 
question  are  within  reach. 

Connecticut: 
Walteu  Pitkin,  Esq. — Four  sessions  of  the  superior  court  are 
holden  annually  in  (^aeh  county,  and  erinn'nal  causes  (which  have 
precedence  of  all  others)  are  generally  tried  at  the  (irst  term  after 
arrest  or  information.  Prohahly  the  average  length  of  imprison- 
ment, pn^vious  to  trial,  is  from  four  to  si.\  weeks. 

New  iJersey: 
For  Ml'.  Parker's  answer  see  (^tu'slion  VII,  New  Jersey,  ftiiprn. 

J.  F.  Hkokman,  Es<|,   -Length  of  imprisonment  previous  to  trial, 
averages  in  Mcrcor  counly  two  months. 

Pennsylvania: 
J.J.  lUitdi.AY,  Esq. — This  qnoHtlon  ^anmtt  he  saliHfaetorily  an> 
swered,  hut  in  IMiiladelphiu  comity,  l»eeaiise  of  ilie  length  ol  time 
between  the  terms  of  c(  urt,  it  is  about,  on  the  average,  a  month. 

Mtiryland: 
A.  Stkiiuno,  Jr.  Esq, — III  the  eoiinties  tile  imnrisonmeiit  before 
trial  depends  on  th(<  time  (»f  the  arrest,  with  reteience  to  its  near- 
ness to  the  term  of  eoiiit.  After  the  court  meets,  the  eases  are 
sevei'tdiv  all  tried  in  from  a  w<>ek  to  a  month.  In  soint^  small 
eounties  where  they  have  few  eases,  there  are  only  two  teniiB  of 


til! 


610 


APPENDIX. 


court  a  year;  but  in  most  thcro  are  three  and  four,  lasting  from 
two  weeks  to  two  montiis.  In  llaltimoro  tlie  imprisonment  is  not 
long,  a  month  or  six  weeks  would  be  the  extreme,  I  think;  gen- 
erally, u  week  or  ton  days,  except  in  assaults  and  batteries,  which 
are  tried  every  Saturday,  and  the  range  there  is  from  one  day  to 
one  week,  unless  the  party  l)y  demanding  a  jury  should  require 
further  delay,  and  the  regular  course  by  indictment. 

Kentucky: 

E.  L.  Van  Winkle,  Esq. — The  average  length  of  imprisonment 
previous  to  conviction  depends  upon  the  frequency  of  courts.  In 
cities,  the  imprisonment  is  short,  say  three  months  or  less.  In 
the  country,  where  the  courts  are  held  only  twice  a  year,  the  con- 
tinement  Avill  average  nine  months. 

Indiana: 
Hon.  Conuad  bAKEit. — The   average   length  of  imprisonment 
previous  to  trial  is  not  long.     This  is  about  as  detinito  as  I  can 
make  my  answer. 

Michigan: 
II.  A.  MoKKOw,  Esq. — A  few  weeks  at  longest  in  Detroit,  and 
if  the  public  prosecutor  docs  his  duty,  the  term  of  impris(»nment 
need  not  exceed  ten  or  fifteen  days.  The  criminal  court  in  Detroit 
holds  monthly  sessions.  In  the  country,  the  period  of  imprison- 
ment is  at  longest  a  few  weeks  in  ordinary  cases. 

Question  XIV. 

Is  it  found  that  in  oilences  of  a  higlier  grade,  convictions,  when 
obtained,  are  frcqu(>ntiy  so  long  afl«>r  the  eouimission  of  thu 
oll'cnce  that  their  moral  ellect  is  in  great  measure  nuUitied  ? 

Anhweus. 
Massachusetts: 

Oeohoe  VV.  Skaui.k,  Km). — Yes;  \\w  delays  wo  oceasionetl  in 
part  by  dilatoriness  in  prost'iuitiiig  otiicers,  but  more  l>y  the  neecM- 
sarv  (h'lays  (»f  oiu'  legal  system.  The  superior  court  in  Siill'olk 
holds  II  terni  once  a  month,  but  in  the  country  not  oflener  lliiin 
(Mice  a  (|ua(U'r:  and  when  a  cause  goes  to  the  supreme  eonrt  on 
exc(>ptioUH,  it  is  much  delayed;  if  any  exception  is  sustained, 
there  is  a  new  trial,  with  indefinite  liability  to  new  Uills  of  exeep> 
tioiis. 

N(fW  lliimpshire: 
Hon.  S.  D.  Hkix. — Convietions  for  the  higher  gra<le  of  otl'enoes 
fire  often  strenuousU    oNiHted  and  long  d«>layeil.     This  luiiy  pro- 
bably diuiinish  thu  moral  ellect  of  thu  punishment. 


APPENDIX. 


511 


Connecticut: 
Walter  Pjtkin,  Esq. — ^The  answer  to  this  question  must  bo 
inferred  from  the  preceding. 

New  Jersey: 

Tor  Mr.  Parker's  answer,  see  Question  VII,  New  Jersey  supra. 

John  F.  Heqeman,  Esq. — I  cannot  say  that  the  convictions  are 
so  long  after  the  connnission  of  the  offences  that  the  moral  ctfect 
is  in  great  measure  nullitied  in  higher  grades  of  offence.  It  is  so 
in  some  measure,  hut  not  in  great  measure.  Wo  do  not  have  a 
long  delay  as  a  general  thing. 

Pennsylvania: 
J.  J.  Bakclay,  Esq. — Yes. 

Maryland: 
No  answer. 

Kentucky: 

E.  L.  Van  Winkle,  Esq. — When  the  crime  is  of  a  startling 
nature,  and  the  circumstances  pregnant  witli  guilt,  the  prisoner 
usiuilly  res  trts  to  all  the  Khifts  that  can  bo  devised  for  delay,  and 
often  escapes  from  punishment  l)y  outlivh\g  the  vhurgc.  Tho 
death  of  witnesses,  the  slackened  energy  of  the  prosecution,  and 
finally  the  losa  of  public  interest  in  the  prosecution,  teiuls  strongly 
in  favor  of  an  acquittal.  Nevertheless,  when  a  conviction  does 
occur,  and  the  death  penalty  is  intlieted,  its  full  effect  is  felt,  and 
the  long  contiitement  and  presence  of  the  criminal  at  tho  bar, 
together  with  his  tragic  end,  heightens  rather  than  diniiniMhcs  tho 
effect  upon  the  public  mind.  It  is  the  uncertainty  of  the  punish* 
ment  for  these  high  crimes  that  fosters  their  connnission. 

Indiana: 

Hon.  Conhai)  Dakkh. — In  oll'enccs  of  a  hiuher  grade  it  does 
Hometinu>s  happen  that  the  convictions,  when  ootained,  are  so  long 
after  lliti  oIUmicc  as  to,  in  a  great  menMiire,  nullify  their  moriu 
effect.  I  do  not.  however,  think  this  is  a  very  freiiuent  occur* 
runce. 

Michigan: 
11.  A.  MoHiiow,  Esq. — It  often  happens  that  convictions  take 
place  so  long  after  the  conunisNlon  of  the  crime,  that  lli(«  moral 
effect  In  tMitiri'ly  destroyed.  My  own  obsi  rvation  has  tunglit  me 
that  spiHMly  and  certain  punishinent  is  far  more  elllcai^ious  in  pre* 
venting  the  eonunirtsion  of  crime  than  are  slow  an<l  stnere  ptmish* 
nuMils. 


II 


h  1 


1    ' 


512 


APPENDIX. 


Question  XV. 

If  such  delays  occur,  what  arc  conceived  to  be  the  causes  ?  Is 
it  customary  to  send  causes  back  and  forth  between  criminal  courts 
of  different  grades,  as,  for  example,  the  geueral  sessions  and  the 
oyer  and  terminer? 

Answers. 
Massachusetts: 

George  W.  Searle,  Esq. — For  answer,  see  Question  XIV. 

New  Hami  sb'vo: 

Hon.  S.  I)  Re  .l. — Tlie  great  motives  for  delay  in  criminal 
cjisos  whore  a  conviction  is  resisted,  is  the  hope  of  advantage  from 
mere  lapse  of  time  ;  the  'ubsiding  of  public  feeling  ;  the  forget- 
tulness  of  witnesses  as  to  details  ;  the  loose  talk  of  others  expos- 
ing them  to  contradiction  ;  the  increased  opi)ortunity  to  prepare  a 
defence  :  the  Hnding  of  evidence  often  kept  back  nt  first,  «fec. 

In  obstinately  contested  cases,  it  is  not  unusual  that  many 
exceptions  to  evidence  are  taken  and  transferred  to  the  law  terms 
for  detisi(tn,  which  may  produce  a  delay  of  several  months. 

Connecticut: 

Walter  Pitkin,  Esq. — Tlio  only  criminal  tribunals  arc  justices' 
(in cities,  "  police")  courts  iind  the  superior  court;  causes  origi- 
nating in  the  latter,  or  ',•  ought  tiicro  by  appeal  from  the  former 
(and  theie  is  no  other  Mp[)ellate  court),  are  in  all  cases  concluded. 

Now  Jersey: 

John  F.  IIkokman,  Es(i.-~'rhere  is  no  delay  by  postponing  caiisea 
over  lo  iniolher  term,  exi'opt  in  rare  eases.  Sometimes  when  ciiseN 
are  appealed  by  writ  of  error,  there  is  necessarily  a  «leliiy  and  the 
moral  etl'eet  of  ultimate  punishment  is  neutralised  to  a  great 
degree,  biil  tlii>  higher  the  otfence  the  less  the  delay,  owing  to  the 
rule  and  disposition  of  courts  to  give  prompt  attoution  and  pre* 
I'erenee  to  criminal  cases. 


iVnnsylvania: 

J.  J.  Hauclay,  Ks(i.-  -Ingenuity  of  eounsel,  and  the  time  which 
In  pra('lir(«  iiiunI  be  tal\(>ii  to  dispose  of  motions  for  neu'  trial  and 
in  arrest  of  tlu<  JudgmeiitM. 

It  is  not  (iistoniary  in  IV>nn>ylvania,  to  nend  ea»iH(>s  buck  and 
forth  in  the  criminal  courts,  l»ut  this  remark  does  not  itpply  to  the 
«'«se.N  siiil  lo  the  supreme  court,  which,  iii  any  event,  and  lieeaiiso 
of  the  system  deseribeil  in  the  answer  to  <pU'stion  No.  1,  are  very 
few. 


APPENDIX. 


613 


Maryland: 

A.  Sterling,  Esqu— We  have  no  criminal  courts  of  different 
grades,  nor  is  there  any  appeal  in  criminal  cases,  except  the  com- 
mon law  right  of  a  writ  of  error  to  talce  up  the  record,  which  only 
extends  to  the  sufficiency  in  law  of  the  indictment  and  the  actual 
record  proceeding,  including  the  legality  of  the  sentence,  but  no 
rulings  of  the  judge  are  roversable.  We  have  no  "  bills  of  excep- 
tion,*' in  criminal  cases. 

Parties  indicted  have  the  right  to  remove  their  cases  to 
some  adjoining  county  for  trial,  on  their  affidavit  that  they  believe 
they  cannot  have  an  impartial  trial  in  the  county  where  the  facts 
arose.  While  a  valuable  barrier  against  injustice  and  popular 
vengeance,  it  is  abused  somewhat  to  delay  and  defeat  justice. 

Kentucky: 

E.  L.  Van.  Winkle,  Esq. — The  delays  that  occur  in  the  trial  of 
the  crime  of  murder  are  attributable  in  part  to  the  lenity  of  the 
courts,  produced  by  the  powerful  inclination  to  extend  every  pos- 
sible legal  a<lvantage  In  favor  of  life. 

The  noticeable  failures  of  courts  to  convict  of  the  higher  order 
of  crimes  arise  chiefly  in  those  cases  whore  the  dcth  penalty  is 
attached,  without  any  choice  being  left  to  the  juf  os  to  graduate 
the  punishment. 

I  lun  satistied  from  an  experience  of  fifteen  years  active  profes- 
sional life,  during  which  time  1  dij<charged  the  duties  of  connnon- 
wealth's  attorney  t'ov  six  years,  that  the  loose  practice  of  permit- 
ting prisoners  to  give  insufficient  bail,  and  thus  enable  them  to 
escape  punishment  or  loss,  has  contributed  more  to  the  impunity  of 
crime,  than  all  iniwise  legislation  in  graduating  punishments. 

Indiana: 

Hon.  CoNiiAi)  nAKKK. — It  is  not  customary  to  send  causes  back 
and  I'orlh  between  criminal  courts  of  ditlerent  grades.  Changes 
of  venue  sometimes  occur,  but  as  the  granting  of  an  Mpplieation 
for  a  eliang(>  is  in  the  discretion  of  the  court,  they  are  not  gianled 
otten  enough  to  constitute  an  nbusc. 

Michigan: 

II.  A.  MouKow,  Ksq. — Under  our  system  delays  are  produced  as 
a  geiu>ral  rule  l>y  the  action  of  the  criminal  himself.  Delays  are 
generally  benetleial  to  the  a<'ensed,  and  shrewd  coinisel  always 
dtday  the  trial.  No  opportunity  occurs  in  this  slate  lor  sending 
cases  i'tom  one  court  to  another. 

(it'KSTION    XVT. 

Ho  the  courts,  or  not,  fail  rrry  nffiu  to  convict,  in  cases  where 
prisouors  are  on  trial  for  urimus  of  a  higher  order? 
[Assem.  No.  35.]  88 


514 


APPENDIX. 


Answers. 


Massachusetts 


Gkoroe  W.  Seaiile,  Esq. — The  courts  do  not  very  often  fail  to 
convict  in  such  cases,  unless  the  prisoners  are  defended  by  espe- 
cially successful  counsel,  such  as  the  late  Mr.  Choai.  or  there  is  a 
diversity  of  popular  and  court  opinion  as  (o  the  it^uilt  of  the 
prisoner.  The  present  chief  justice  usually'  |>rp.sidei5  Avif.'i  two  or 
more  of  his  associMCS  on  such  trials.  Ho  ads  iip'i  the  j>rincip(o, 
that  it  is  tho  duty  <  f  the  judge,  as  well  as  thi  pru.v';!  cuting  of^ie*  ;•, 
to  see  that  the  guilty  are  convict od,  when  it  •!.)  't.  no'  '  eii*  "ve  ii  If  < 
bold  assumption  by  the  court  of  the  office  of  the  advocate.  Ily 
this  answer,  it  is  not  intended  to  rutlect  upon  ,iie  judicial  impar- 
tiality of  the  very  able  chief  justice,  but  only  to  state  the  execu- 
tive character  which  belongs  to  bis  administration  of  justice. 

New  Hampshire: 

H(ni.  8.  D.  Hell. — No  data  exist  for  the  oompunson  impliod  in 
the  -v ;)V(ls  rcfi/  often.  I'vrhaps  convictions  ^lv■  less  iire<iuent  where 
the  |)».ii;ilU'  ;s  very  .jovero,  because  the  nu'tive  for  obstinate  resist- 
ance is  milch  the  highest  in  that  class. 

Connecticut: 

Walteu  Pitkin,  Esq. — Our  courts  rarel  y  fail  to  convict  in  cases 
where  prisoners  are  on  trial  for  crimes  ol*  u  high  order.  (See 
answer  to  12th  qiiestion). 


Now  Jersey: 
John  F.  Heijeman,  E»(\. — ybt  very  often  do  the  courtfl  fail  to 
convict  for  crimes  of  a  higher  order.     Such  is  the  cose   occa- 
monalhf  rather  than  very  often. 


,.,.., 


Pennsylvania: 
J.  iT    Uaiu'Lay,  Ksq. — The  jiulges  do   their  duty,  but  hunnui 
nature  is  the  siune  everywhere,  and  juries  sometimes,  but  not 
recently,  fail  to  do  their  duty. 

Maryland: 

A.  Stkumnu,  Est). — The  court  do  not  very  often  fail  to  convict 
in  high  gradi'H  of  oU'ence;  there  is  a  tendency  In  juries  somewhat 
agalnvt  capital  piniishment,  and  a  diMpoMitioii  to  iiud  a  lower 
degree  of  homicide.  I  think  the  eNciqx^  of  (criminals  is  nuiiuly 
diu>  here,  nscdsewhere,  to  the  department  which  arresls,  especially 
to  tlu>  in«lependent,  private  detectives,  who  are  vi-ry  useful  to 
enable  private  iiidividnals  to  make  good  their  losses,  but  who 
allow  ohen  the  thieves  to  eicapu  on  surrendering  thuir  booty 


APPENDIX. 


615 


Our  police  here  is  very  good,  but  the  detective  department,  as 
clsowhorc,  I  think,  liable  to  this  trouble.  The  point  Avhere  the 
fingers  of  justice  actually  come  in  contact  with  crime  and  crimi- 
nals, is  where  the  contact  soils,  and  where  the  rogue  slips  through. 
Strict  care  of  the  police  system  and  rigid  discipline  is  the  cure, 
but  our  ciiangosof  "personnel"  are  ditScultics.  Wo  are  becoming 
more  stable.  Our  police  is  a  copy  in  form  of  the  Metropolitan, 
and  much  more  stable  than  before.  Our  policemen  must  bo  per- 
manent and  rigidly  controlled  to  make  the  system  safe. 

Kentucky: 
E.  L.  Van  VVinkle,  Esq. — Courts  do  of'fu  fail  to  convict  in 
cases  where  prisoners  ai'o  on  trial  for  crimes  of  a  higher  order, 
and  such  escapes  from  punishment  necessarily  have  a  tendency  to 
cucourage  those  who  make  their  living  by  unlawful  means. 

Indiana: 
Hon.  Coimf?ai>  Bakkr,  Esq. — Coiu'ts  do  not  very  of  tan  fail  to 
convict  in  cases  where  prisoners  are  on  trial  for  crimes  of  a  higher 
order. 

Michigan: 
H.  A.  Mounow,  Esq. — Coin-ts  and  juries  do  very  often  fail  to 
convict  in  the  Mgher  grades  of  crimes. 

Question  X\'TI. 

If  yes,  what  is  the  elFect  of  such  failun  on  the  criminal  popula- 
tion; that  is,  those  who  follow  crime  as  a  means  of  obtaining  ;i 
livelihood?  Are  the  terrors  of  the  law  found  to  have  nnich  of  a 
deterrent  efl'oct  upon  this  class  of  persons,  or  not? 

Anmweus. 
Mussachusetts: 

Geouoe  W.  Seaulb,  Esq. — These  delays  tend  to  embolden  the 
oriniinal  population,  and  convinces  thiMu  that  the  law  is  lacking  in 
its  executive  power,  and  in  the  certainty  and  dispatch  of  its 
decrees. 

New  IIan»pHhiro: 

Hon.  S.  D.  \M\\.\., —  No  data  are  known  on  which  an  answer  to 
to  tills  (piestion  can  be  foiiiuhHl.  Oeiierally  every! liing  wliicli 
diminUhcN  tlu^  certainty  of  piinisliinent,  is  supposed  to  leMscn  tlio 
oD'ect  of  the  criminal  law.  Tlu^  law  is  not  su|)|)().sed  to  i\v\M'  cnn- 
finned  rogues  from  oU'ending  but  in  a  very  slight  degrtte.  \\s 
c/l'oct  is  mainly  on  those  who  huvu  not  yielded  to  temptuliou. 


516 


APPENDIX. 


Connecticut: 
No  answer  is  given  to  this  question  by  Mr.  Pitkin. 

New  Jersey: 

For  Mr.  Parker's  answer,  see  Question  VII,  New  Jersey,  supm. 
John  F.  Hegeman,  Esq. — Answered  above. 

Pennsylvania : 
J.  J.  Barclay,  Esq. — The  effect  is  of  course  bad  whenever  there 
is  a  clear  failure  of  justice.  The  terrors  of  the  law  have  their 
effect  in  driving  the  criminals  out  of  the  jurisdiction  of  a  court 
whose  judges  act  with  iirmness,  and  without  'fear,  favor  or  affec- 
tion." 

Maryland ; 
No  answer  is  given  by  Mr.  Sterling. 

Kentucky : 
For  answer  sec  question  XVI,  Kentucky,  supra. 

Indiana :  \ 

Hon.  Conrad  Baker. — In  my  opinion,  the  fear  of  the  peniten- 
tiary prevents  many  from  committing  crime,  who  are  restrained 
bv  no  higher  considerations. 

Michigan  : 

H.  A.  Morrow,  Esq. — Failure  to  convict  in  cases  free  from 
doubt  or  complicacy  give  encouragoment  to  criminals.  The  supe- 
rior courts  often  find  themselves  obliged  to  set  aside  sentences  for 
errors  and  to  order  new  trials,  and  whore  this  occurs  in  many 
cases,  criminals  are  encouraged  by  the  hope  that  as  a  last  resort 
the  superior  court  may  relievo  them. 

Punishment,  to  have  the  effect  to  doter  others  irom  the  commis- 
sion of  similar  offences,  nnist  bo  certain  and  speedy.  Where  jus- 
tice is  delayed  or  uncertain,  tho  law  has  no  terror  for  orimiuuls. 

Question  XVIII.  i 

Are  prosecuting  attorneys  appointed  or  oloetod  ? 

Answers. 

Massachusetts  : 

Geo.  W.  8earle,  Esq. — Tho  prosecuting  offioors  consist  of  au 

attorney  general,  who  tries  tho  capital  cases  in  tho  supremo  court, 

generally  in  conjunction  with  tho  local  prosecuting  olKcers  of  tho 

couuty  in  which  thu  ca>io  is  tried.     lu  each  county  thoru  is  u  diti- 


APPENDIX. 


517 


trict  attorney.  Both  the  attorney  general  and  district  attorney 
are  elected.  In  Suffolk  there  is  an  assistant  district  attorney,  who 
is  appointed  by  the  executive. 

New  Hampshire  : 

Hon.  S.  D.  Bell. — The  prosecuting  attorneys,  the  attorney 
general  for  the  state,  and  solicitors  for  the  counties,  are  appointed 
by  the  governor  and  council  for  five  years. 

Connecticut : 

Waeteb  Pftkin,  Esq. — Prosecuting  attorneys  are  appi;;ntcd, 
one  foi-  each  county,  by  the  judges  of  the  superior  court,  and  hold 
office  for  two  years. 

New  Jersey : 

CoRTLANDT  Parker,  Esq. — Prosccutiug  attorneys  are  appointed 
by  the  governor,  with  the  advice  and  consent  of  the  senate,  and 
hold  office  five  years.  Their  compensation  is  entirely  by  fees. 
For  every  indictment,  to  which  there  is  a  plea  of  guilty,  they 
receive  ten  dollars;  for  every  indictment  to  which,  after  not  guilty 
pleaded,  defendant  retracts  and  pleads  guilty,  twelve  dollars  ;  for 
every  verdict  of  guiUy,  after  trial,  fifteen  dollars.  The  taxable 
costs  of  other  officers  are  recoverable  likewise  only  on  conviction 
obtained.  This  system  of  payment  seems  theoretically  wrong. 
Practically,  it  works  well.  It  is  a  great  stimulus  to  vigilance  in 
minor  matters.  Men  indicted  are  brought  to  trial.  Few  errors 
occur  in  drawing  indictments.  Causes  are  well  prepared.  But 
the  character  of  the  bar  of  New  Jersey  is  such,  and  the  fees  them- 
selves so  small,  that  it  is  not  believed  that  the  necessity  of  success 
to  emolument  leads  any  men  to  improper  exertion.  Indeed,  the 
possibility  of  such  a  thing  protects  the  innocent  from  undue  pro- 
secution.   Too  great  zeal  defeats  itself.  ^ 

Pennsylvania : 
J.  J.  Barclay,  Esq. — They  arc  elected. 

Maryland  : 

A.  Sterling,  Esq. — Prosecuting  attorneys  are  elected  for  four 
years. 

Kentucky  : 

E.  L.  Van  Winkle,  Esq. — Prosecuting  attorneys  ore  elected. 
Compensation  in  pait  l)y  salary,  and  in  part  by  fees. 

Indiana : 
Hon.  Conrad  Baker. — Prosecuting  attorneys  are  elected. 


518 


APPENDIX. 


Michigan  : 

H.  R.  Clarke,  Esq. — Prosecuting  attorneys  are  elected  by  the 
people  for  two  years. 

Question  XIX. 
Is  their  compensation  by  salaries  or  foes  ? 

Answers. 
Massachusetts : 
Geo.  W.  Searle,  Esq. — All  those  are  remunerated  by  fixed 
salaries,  and  have  no  fees  beyond  them. 

New  Hampshire :  « 

Hon.  S.  D.  Bell. — They  are  paid  by  salaries. 

Connecticut : 
W.  PrrKiN,  Esq. — Their  compensation  is  by  fees. 

New  Jersey : 
For  Mr.  Parker's  answer  see  Question  XVIII,    Now  Jersey, 

John  F.  Heoeman,  Esq. — Their  compensation  is  by  fees  upon 
conviction — nothing  in  cases  of  acquittal. 

Pennsylvania : 
J.  J.  Barclay,  Esq. — Fees. 

IVIaryland  : 

A.  Sterling,  jr.,  Esq. — They  are  paid  by  fines.  Maximum 
allowed,  $3,000. 

Kentucky : 

E.  L.  V^VN  Winkle,  Esq. — They  receive  fixed  salaries,  and  a 
percentage  on  all  judgments  of  conviction,  where  such  judgments 
nro  assessed  by  way  of  fine. 

Indiana :  ^ 

Hon.  CoNUAD  Baker. — Tlip  c.impensation  is  of  a  mixed  natu''e, 
a  part  of  it  being  by  way  of  salary,  and  the  residue  as  fees. 

Michigan  : 

H.  K.  (.'lauk.  Esci. — The  compensation  is  fixed  by  the  board  of 
siiporvisors,  (composed  of  one  from  each  township)  and  generally 
by  the  allowance  of  an  annual  salary. 


APPENDIX. 


519 


Question  XX. 

If  by  salaries,  what  c'^'ct,  if  any,  is  this  fouud  to  have  upon 
their  fidelity  ? 

Answers. 
'  Massachusetts : 

Geo.  W.  Seakle,  Esq. — The  effect  upon  their  fidelity  is  favor- 
able. 

New  Hampshire : 
Hon.  S.  D.  Bell.     It  is  not  suggested  that  their  fidelity  is 
affected  by  this  mode  of  compensation,  so  far  as  I  have  heard, 

Connecticut : 
No  answer. 

New  Jersey  : 
For  Mr.   Parker's  answer  sle  Question  XVIII,  New  Jersey, 
suj)ra. 

John  F.  Hegeman,  Esq. — This  system  of  compensation  by  fees 
is  bad,  tempting  to  undue  exertion  to  convict,  and  tempting  to 
receive  rewards  from  the  defendants  to  favor  them. 

Pennsylvania : 

J.  J.  Barclay,  Esq. — The  system  of  salaries  has  not  been  tried 
in  Pennsylvania. 

Maryland  : 
No  answer. 

Kentucky : 

E.  L.  Van  Winkle,  Esq. — As  a  general  tiling,  our  prosecuting 
attorneys  are  sufficiently  vigilant,  and,  inasmuch  as  they  got  thirty 
per  cent  of  all  judgments  upon  forfeited  bail  bonds  and  recogniz- 
ances, it  is  not  often  that  such  judgments  are  not  collected,  except 
where  the  parties  are  insolvent. 

Indiana : 
Hon.  Conrad  Baker. — I  do  not  think,  as  a  general  rule,  that 
allowing  a  salary  injuriously  affects  their  fidelity. 

Michigan : 

II.  K.  Clahkr,  Esq. — Salaries  may,  and  in  some  instances,  doubt- 
less, do,  lead  to  the  neglect  of  cases  that  ought  to  be  prosecuted  ; 
but,  in  my  judgment,  making  the  compensation  to  depend  entinly 
upon  the  amount  of  business  done  would  lead  to  other  and  muc\i 


520 


APPENDIX. 


greater  evils  in  the  opposite  direction.  An  uprip^'tf  mil  competent 
prosecutor  ought  to  have  a  liberal  salary.  For  tiic  unworthy  and 
incompetent  no  method  of  compensation  can  be  (iv  -ned  with  any 
confidence  that  it  will  not  prove  excessive. 

H.  A.  Morrow,  Esq.— The  system  of  paying  salaries  to  public 
prosecutors  is  altogether  preferable  to  that  of  paying  fees.  The 
latter  system  has  a  most  pernicious  effect  on  the  officer.  It  is  a 
strong  inducement  to  multiply  cases,  and  is  injurious  to  the  public 
in  a  variety  of  ways. 

Question  XXI. 

To  what  extent  in  general  are  forfeited  recognizances  enforced, 
and  bail  money  collected? 

• 

Answers. 
Massachusetts: 

Geo.  W.  Searle,  Esq. — There«is,  I  suspect,  much  and  unnec- 
essary neglect  in  this  respect;  I  am  not  able  to  make  more  specitic 
answer. 

\- 
New  Hampshire: 

S.  D.  Bell. — No  data  are  known  for  an  answer. 


Connecticut: 
Walter  Pitkin,  Esq. — Forfeited 
and  bail  money  collected  almost  invariably. 


recognizances  are  enforced 


New  Jersey: 

Cortlandt  Parker,  Esq. — There  is  great  want  of  system  and 
thoroughness  in  enforcing  forfeited  recognizances  and  collecting 
justices'  fines.  No  spccuil  direction  is  given  by  law  to  these 
moneys.  Bail  money  goes  to  the  state;  fines  to  the  county.  The 
law  in  regard  to  both  of  them  will  soon  need  revision,  if  it  docs 
not  now.     The  subject  grows  daily  in  importance. 

John  Hegeman,  Esq. — Forfeited  recognizances  in  this  (Mercer) 
county  are  generally  enforced,  and  the  bail  money  collected,  when 
the  recognizance  is  duly  taken  and  the  bail  responsible — which  is 
not  always  the  case. 


Maryland: 

A.  8TKHLING,  Esq. — Recognizances  are  not  rigidly  enforced. 

In  Baltimore,  the  bail  is  liable  to  an  attachment  again.st  his  per* 

son  on  the  failure  of  the  party  to  perform,  and  this  has  a  good 

effect  in  securing  the  appearance  of  parties  bailed.    Practically, 


APPENDIX, 


m 


since  Judge  Boiul  has  been  on  the  l>ench,  the  effect  has  been  gootl. 
The  bail  system  is  not  rigid  anywhere,  and  can  scarcely  bo  made 
so.  If  the  bail  is  innocent  of  aiding  an  escape,  and  is  poor  and 
cannot  find  the  party,  eqnitablo  considerations  and  kind  feelings 
will  keep  the  officers  of  the  law  from  being  rigid,  and  it  is  dim- 
cult  to  provide  a  remedy.  If  the  bail  is  able  to  produce  the 
party,  he  is  generally  made  to  do  so  here,  or  to  pay  the  money. 

Pcnnsvlvania: 
J.  J.  BakciuVY,  Esq. — To  a  very  limited  extent. 

Kentucky: 
See  Question  XX.,  Kentucky,  «»y>m. 

Indiana: 
Hon.   Conrad  Baker. — I  cannot  answer  this  question.     Tiic 
number  of  remissions  of  forfeitures  by  the  governor  is  not  large, 
and  I  have  heard  no  general  complaint  of  want  of  tidelity  in 
enforcing  the  collection  of  forfeited  recognizancos. 

Michigan: 
H.  A.  Momtow,  Esq. — Very  seldom  indeed  is  a  forfeited  recog- 
nizance enforced  by  the  collection  of  the  money.  A  system  for 
entering  immediate  judgment  on  forfeited  recognizancos  should 
be  devised;  an  action  on  the  bond  is  usually  unsuecoHsful.  Innne- 
diate  judgments  are  entered  on  forfeited  l)onds  in  the  recorder's 
court  of  tlie  city  of  Detroit,  and  it  is  foiuid  to  work  admirably. 
Diu'ing  the  live  years  of  my  administration  in  that  court,  there 
were  not  over  a  half  dozen  recognizances  forfeited.  The  party 
seldom  failed  to  appear  when  it  Avas  known  that  immediate  judg- 
ment would  be  entered  on  his  bond. 


Question  XXII. 

How  as  to  justice's  fines — is  there  a  rigid  system  of  account- 
ability here,  or  are  matters  in  this  department  left  at  loose  ends? 
If  the  former,  what  is  the  system?  If  the  latter,  what  remedy 
can  you  suggest? 

Answers. 
Massachusetts: 

Geo.  W.  Seaule,  Esq. — This  (|Ueslion  I  nm  unable  to  answer 
from  personal  information,  but  I  think  the  general  laws,  the 
reports  of  the  attorney-general,  and  other  reports  of  this  slate  in 
the  possession  of  the  association,  will  afford  the  desired  informa- 
tion. 


522 


APPENDIX. 


New  Hampshire: 
Hon.  S.  D.  Bell. — No  data  are  known  for  an  answer  to  this 
question.  The  law  requires  all  public  officers  who  receive  money 
as  fines,  costs  or  forfeitures,  to  settle  an  account  annually.  I 
have  the  impression  that  little  money  is  paid  by  justices  into  the 
public  treasury,  and  that  the  system  of  accountability  is  practi- 
cally ineftective.  Perhaps  the  first  step  to  remedy  this,  would 
be  to  reduce  the  number  of  those  magistrates. 

Connecticut: 
W.  PrriviN,  Esq. — Finos  collected  by  justices,  unless  otherwise 
specially  disposed  of,  belong  to  the  treasury  of  the  towns  where 
the  offences  are  committed.  I  am  unable  to  find  that  our  law 
provides  any  system  of  accountability  in  this  matter.  It  would 
seem  proper  in  this,  as  in  other  cases,  to  require  from  the  custo- 
dians of  public  funds  at  least  an  annual  sworn  statement  of  the 
condition  of  such  funds. 

New  Jersey: 

For  Mr.  Park;'r's  answer  see  Question  XXI,  Now  Jersey,  snjn'a. 

John  F.  Hkokman,  Ksq. — It  is  very  rare  that  fines  are  imposed 
by  a  just  ice,  except  as  penalties,  and  then  they  are  alinost  inva- 
riably paid  over  as  the  statute  directs.  It  is  so  seldom  the  cose, 
that  there  is  no  s}/«(em  about  it  in  this  county. 

Pcnn»tylvania: 

J.  J.  Bauclay,  Esq. — There  is  a  system  in  Philadelphia  Co., 
b\it  it  is  left  "at  loose  ends."  The  only  remedy  which  can  at 
present  be  suggested  is  the  enactment  ot  a  law,  obliging  every 
justice  to  make  a  return  of  each  case  with  the  names  of  the  parties 
monthly,  said  return  to  be  published  in  n  daily  newspaper  under 
a  severe  penally. 

Maryland: 

A.  Stkhmnc,  Jh.,  Ehq. — JuHtices  of  the  peace  aro  re(iuired  to 
account  to  the  county  clerks  for  all  thum  collected  ity  them  which 
are  by  law  payable  into  the  Ntate  treasury,  and  to  the  county  and 
municipal  authorities  for  all  tines  nhich  by  law  are  payalde  to 
tlu^  county  treasury.  They  report  rcguUnly,  Miongh  there  have 
been  failures  t(»  lie  exact,  mainly  due  to  tlie  election  of  jiistices 
for  short  terms  which  formerly  prevailed. 

Kentucky: 

E.  L.  Van  Winklk,  Esq.— JuNtices' lines  are  collected  and  paid 
to  the  tiMiMtiM'H  of  tlic  jury  fund  — lln>y  report  twice  a  vrai'  on  onth 
to  tin*  ♦nisttM'H,  imd  ihe  latter  report  to  the  Htiil«<  amiilor.     Con 
Ntables  do  the  ctdlec'ing  and  are  suUiciently  rigid. 


APPENDIX. 


523 


[Assuming  that  the  object  of  this  qucition  is  to  ascertain 
whether  petty  offenses  are  sufficiently  punished  by  justices'  tines] 
I  take  it  that  petty  offenses  are  sufficiently  punished  by  the  present 
system. 

I  am  thoroughly  impressed  with  the  conviction  that  legal  enact- 
ments in  many  of  the  minor  offenses  arc  vithout  any  beneficial 
cflccts  so  far  as  the  punishment  is  concerned,  as  the  justices  are 
not  appealed  to  once  in  ten  cases,  except  in  that  class  involving 
personal  iiijury,  which  prompts  the  enforcement  of  the  penalty. 

Indiana. 

Hon.  CoNKAD  Baker. — I  think,  as  a  general  rule,  fines  by  jus- 
tices of  the  peace  ju'o  collected  and  accounted  for. 

Justices  are  required,  at  stated  periods,  to  make  reports  under 
oath  to  the  clerk  of  the  circuit,  showing  the  fines  assessed  and 
collected  by  them  and  the  disposition  made  thereof.  For  any 
failure  of  duty  in  this  respect  they  are  piuiisliuble,  and  also  they 
and  their  sureties  are  liable  on  their  otiicial  bonds. 

Michigan: 

II.  K.  Claukk,  Esq. — Tlicre  is  a  rigid  system  of  accountability 
in  the  collection  of  tines  imposed  by  justices  of  the  peace  or  by 
the  higher  courts.  I  know  of  no  l)etter  remedy  for  this  evil  than 
to  devote  I)y  law  all  tines  to  the  maintenance  of  some  fund  which 
the  people  have  an  interest  in  increasing,  and  providing  for  a  lib- 
eral compensation  to  some  officer  to  collect  them,  to  he  paid  by 
connnissionerH  out  of  the  sums  collected.  The  collecting  oflicer 
should  be  a))pointed  by  the  custodians  of  the  fund,  or  those  who 
huvu  in  charge  tlie  object  which  tiie  fund  is  desi^,iiud  to  promote. 

(iUEPTION     XXIII. 

Is  any  sp'^cial  direction  given  to  moneys  collected  in  this  way, 
looking  to  Nome  public  objtu't  (as,  for  example,  the  increaNtt  of 
school  liltraricH),  or  do  they  go  into  the  treasury  of  the  county  for 
general  [)urpoMe»? 

Annwuhs. 
MiiMsMclniscllN.' 

Okoikik  \V.  Sr„vui,E,  Kst). — They  go  Into  the  trcasm-y  of  the 
stale  for  g(>Mi'i'tii  pin  poses. 

I 

Sow  Ilaiiipsjiiro: 

Hon.  S.  [).  Hkij.,  —  Fines  and  forfVltures  are  generally  payable 
to  till' counties  in  aid  of  tlu'ir  general  funds.  In  sonir  caM>N  they 
are  puid  lo  towns  for  liU<«  piirpohen.  Tlicy  are  rarely  devoted  to 
such  objrctM  lis  sclitxd  liliraries.  In  some  cases  they  go  to  the 
suppoii  of  I  lie  |iiMii'.  Fortcitures  aru  applied,  in  some  eaies,  to 
inuuumil'y  proieeutur*. 


ii  :l  li 


ii!    i! 


524 


APPENDIX, 


Connecticut: 
See  answer  to  Question  XXII,  Connecticut,  siuj)i'a. 

New  Jei'sey: 

See  Question  XXI,  New  Jersey,  svjnv,  for  Mr.  Parker's 
answer. 

John  F.  Heoeman,  Esq. — Such  moneys  almost  universally  go 
to  some  public  object,  as  the  poor,  or  the  state  or  county. 

Pennsylvania: 
J.  J.  Bamclay,  Esq. — In  Philadelphia  into  the  city  treasury. 

Kentucky:  .        . 

No  answer. 

Maryland: 

A.  Stkiiuno,  Esq. — Fines  imposed  by  statute,  excepi  for  viola- 
tion of  tiu»  license  laws,  go  (o  the  counties,  i-oinnion  law  tines  to 
the  state.  In  Baltimore,  one-half  of  all  tines  go  to  the  municipal 
corporation,  except  those  for  bawdy  housos,  which  go  by  statute 
to  the  support  of  the  dispensatories  <»r  fn-e  apothccaiy  shops,  of 
■which  there  are  throe,  with  a  corps  of  physicians  attaclu'd,  and 
>vhich  are  supplied  from  this  source  and  by  ))riviitc  contribution. 

Indiana: 
Hon.  CoNiiAi)  Hakku. — By  the  constitution  of  the  state,  all  lines 
and  forfeitures  belong  to  the  conunon  school  fund. 

Michigan: 
II.  K.  Ci.AUKK. — The  constitution  of  the  slut*'  jnovides  that  all 
lines  for  iniy  breai'h  of  llu'  piiinl  laws  shall  be  i-.xcliisividy  applied 
to  the  HU[)[iort  of  township  librari«'s. 

QIKHTION    XXIV. 
Are  polic('n\en  and  constables  found  to  be  guilty,  t(»  auyconnid- 
erable  extent,  of  corruption  in  the  administration  of  their  otliees? 

Answehm. 
MassachusettH! 

(iKo.  W.  Seahi.k,  F.n<i. — My  opinion  is  that  the  vast  majority  of 
policemen  in  all  our  hirg(>  cities  ure  guilty  ot'con  iiptiou  to  avery 
considerable  extent  in  the  administration  of  llieir  oltices,  especiidly 
in  regiird  to  druid<ennevs,  tippling  shops,  bawdy  houses,  and 
gamlding  lulls.     The  poor  inebriate  is  aliused,  and  on  the  least 

I)reti'nce  of  disicspccl  to  the  p(diccnian's  aiithoiity  liiiiiied  to  the 
ock  up  iind  (he  police  courii,  and  there  tricil  in  ihe  most  hurrictl 
iml  indecorous  manner,  iind  upmi  the  ex  iinrtr  statement  of  the 
puliceman,  backed  by  his  UMSociidcs,  ready  to  swear  to  anything 


APPENDIX. 


525 


the  nrrcatlnjr  officer  may  tiiid  noiHlfiil  to  justify  his  too  froqiiontly 
unlawful  «rn>sl.  Tlus  prisonor's  only  rhanco  for  juslict'  In  };(MU'- 
rally  an  apjx'al.  Tliis  is  oxponsive,  dilatory,  and,  if  friondU'ss, 
involvinir  an  ii.iprisonniont  in  jail  for  want  of  hail,  quite  as  to.^ 


as   Ihe  ordinary   sentence   would  he.     Hut  the   dr 


am    shop, 


(lu 


hrothol,  and  the  ^anihlin*;^  rooms  (oo  often  find  a  friendly  ally,  if 
not  a  patron,  in  the  polieeman.  It  has  hoen  rep(U'ted  that  they 
draw  a  rejxular  stipend  for  relieenee  from  sueh  estahlishnieiits  on 
their  l)(>ats,  and  the  faet  of  their  notorious  hostility  to  tlie  ollieers 
of  ihi^  state  eoDslahulary  in  their  prosecutions,  h^nds  countenance 
to  this  theory.  The  remedi«'s  for  these  evils  will  he  found  in  the 
causes  which  produce  tlu'm.  A  hij;her  tone  of  chantclcr  must  he 
sought  for  in  the  polic(>man;  he  nmst  he  a  just,  humane,  and 
incorrupt ilile  num.  For  such  men,  higher  prices  nmst  he  paid 
than  ar(>  now  paid  ))olicemen.  With  the  pntsent  salary  an  inferior 
order  of  cheap  iiumi  are  cnploycd,  and  tlu*  need  of  incrcasinjjj 
their  ri'Vi'UUcs  liy  contrihuiions  from  such  sonncs,  is  iilm.)st  irre- 
sistihie.  It  Jiiay  he  (|Ucstione<l,  too,  whether  the  chiefs  of  jtolico 
are  always  the  men  tl»ey  should  he. 

The  printed  code  in  Boston,  for  the  secret  <;(»v«>rnmeut  of  \\u> 
ixilice  ftU'ci^  may  als«)  "iced  rclorminij;.  Ol'  conrs»>,  it.  may  he 
ar;;ued  that  the  rou;;h  (pialities  which  arc  en<;cn(icred  of  such 
contact  may  tit  th(>  p<)lic<>man  for  tlH>  coarser  duties  of  his  oilic(^ 
in  tlu^  detection  of  notorious  (riminals;  hut  it  is  u  fulse  Nocial 
justice  which  would  set  a  ro^ue  to  cutch  a  ro^uc  whctlur  such 
oIlictMs  are  accustomed  to  accept  hriltcs  from  criuiuiuls  to  keep 
still  or  let  them  slip,  I  (|nestion;  hut  indirectly,  sn«h  men  arc  in 
the  pay  (»f  an  enterprising  criminal  lawyer  to  whom  Ihry,  lor  u 
coiisidei'Mlion,  recommend  the  prisoners,  und  at  the  trial,  tlM-  gov- 
ernment n  case  mill/,  nr  nitli/  hotylti'iMik'  don'n   iivvui'iliiit/  (o  in-nitn- 

If  (his  (juestion  in  the  use  of  the  phrase  '  foittxi  to  !>«  jjfiiilty," 
is  inlend«>(l  to  relate  to  prosecutions  ><  I  con.ictions  of  poliretncn 
and  eouslaldes  in  the  courts  >'i'  to  thcii  di><mi'>sMl,  the  ansvtcr  iniMf 
he,  that  tlx're  is  seldom  sUeh  tin  ocMiiiencc,  liut  the  occiimuhi  of 
this  is  helicved  |o  he,  not  th>-  uliscnce  of  just  cause,  hut  iVoni  tho 
want  of  an  etliciciit,  smnmary  '  d  regular  syHleiu  of  aecountiduiily 
hcfor«<  some  l>oard  espi'eiall_\  i  h.iij^ed  .«itii  the  h  luiuj^  and  invi's- 
tigation  of  all  (d<l  complaints. 

New  Hampshire  : 

lion.  S.  |).  Uki.i..  -No  data  are  known  on  this  qncslion.  \Vn 
hcsr  of  such  chart's  a);iiinst  the  police  of  greai  eities.  Ijiljr  m 
said  or  known  on  'lie  sidtjcct  among  our  Mcalli'red  popidation. 

Coniu'cticut ; 
WAi.TKit  I'rruiN,  l'<Ni|, — It   is  h(<liev<>d  that  our  eonstaldcs  an<l 
policemen  admiidst«>r  their  respective  ()l1ic(<s  with  general  fairncM 
and  honesty, 


i 


'    !l 


1 

1 


626 


APPENDIX. 


New  Jersey: 

CoKTLANDT  Parker,  Esq. — I  (lo  uot  tliiiik  tliiit  policemen  nnd 
eoiist{il)los  arc  fouiul  to  ho  guilty  to  any  oonsidcrulile  extent  of 
corruption.  Much  is  suspected;  but  there  is  little  warrant  for 
suspicion  in  any  known  facts. 

J.  F.  IIkoealvn,  Esq. — Policemen  and  constables  are  often  cor- 
rupt, to  a  considerable  extent,  in  the  administration  of  their  otlico 
(in  the  cities).  This  is  the  greatest  obstacle  to  the  faithful  atlmiu- 
istration  of  criminal  law  in  this  county. 

Pennsylvania: 
J.  J.  Ba!M"LAY,  Esq. — Cases  of  this  kind  have  uot  been  estab- 
liuhcd  by  legal  proof,  except  in  one  or  two  iuHtames. 

Maryland: 
A.  !Stkulin(J,  Esq. — 1  think  onr  police  maybe  regarded  us  very 
reasonal)'y  free  from  corruption.     The  conq)laints  are  few. 

Kentucky: 
No  answer. 


I, 


Indiana: 

Hun,  CoMjAh  Hakkk.  I  iiink  not;  l)Ut  in  the  citii's  and  larger 
towns  this  evil  is  believed  to  exist,  to  ti  limited  extent,  ami  to  be 
on  the  increase. 


Midiigan: 
H.  K.  Clahkk,  Esq.    -I  do  uot  know. 

^rUfiTHM^   XXV. 

Are   wTfnrsNCS,  wl»n  ai-e   inqni^  humI  to 
eontined  M'iin  persoii'   ;irre»«t«Ml  tor  crime 


ttu'lr  lestimony 
Il«»  tb«  '    receive  any 


uom|)en.'!ialion  U'    llutu'  loss  of  time  whth-  thus  inx^riMunud? 

A\SWKK» 

Massivclnisetti*: 

ChmitoR  W.   >*KAiti  .      I.^q.     \Vilnei««eH  liri'   im)'»'iM>ned   in  the 

4Mrt«r'^  apHrtiix  lit,  and  not  trith  the  prisoner*  H>r<  4t  I  for  crime. 

'"'■■  i's  htiK'  diserelionary  power  tn  allow  (lnni   <  onipensMlion 

•!'  (ii'<t",  and  tie    alh'wunee  made  is  geutruliy  what  they 

wohI'I  Imvi-  -   /lied  olherwlMC. 

iVew  llrtMipshir*: 
lliix    S,  1»   Ukij  .  -Cases  of  the  kiml  referred  to  aie  v«'ry  rare. 
The  wili(t*<M<  who  eaiinot  or  will  not  reeo^nlxe,  U  eontined  In  tho 
etMiimon   jail,  with  tlioH#»  wIk»  happen  to  be  there;  and  I  hey  aru 
not  ortliiMM'ilN  ei)mi'*Misaterl  t<>v  loss  of  lime. 


VPPENDIS. 


527 


Connecticut: 
Waltku  Pitkin,  Esq. — There  is  no   liiw  in  our  state  for  tho 
imprisonment  of  witnestjcs. 

Now  Jersey: 

Coim-ANDT  J*Ai{KRn,  Esq. — It  is  u  Mot  upon  otir  system  of 
rri'n)iiiiil  uroeeeilluj^s  llmt  Avifnes.ses,  wlioniv  i:iq)risoni(l  to  secure 
their  testimony,  ar(>  eoutined  in  ll)e  <i'(ials  npproprialeil  to  crimi- 
nals. In  the  county  of  Essex,  they  are  in  sejiarate  apartments, 
tiioN<>  inhal)ite(l  hy  framhilent  debtors.  Kllbrt  is  nnuh',  and  it  is 
lielieved  irenerally  with  success,  to  separate  lhen»  from  criminals 
in  most  other  counties.  Hut  it  is  u  shame  (lint  no  more  is  ih)ne. 
They  should  have  jileasant  apartments,  and  all  liherty  consistent 
with  securing;  their  testimony.  In  Ks^-v^'  county,  l!i(>  jjrHctiee  \n 
to  ^ive  them  Aviinese.  fees  in  the  cause  i>r  causes  in  which  they 
linally  testify  for  all  the  time  they  mv  detaine«l.  I  helieve  this 
l)raclice  obtains  generally.  ]hit  it  is  shameful  that  so  little  atten- 
tion is  p.-iid  to  this  suliject.  I  lia\'e  known  sad  instances  of 
<:ricv(tus  suH'cring  hy  persons  whos«'  only  oUcuce  was,  that  they 
had  witnessed  the  commission  of  a  crime,  and  were,  thertjfore, 
nocv'ssiir}'  to  tho  eufety  of  the  e()nnnuuity. 

.loiiN  F.  IIi!»iKNAN,  Es<i. — Witnesses  are  «>vti  rnely  sehlom  eou- 
tined ii  jail  to  •■cure  their  ttstiiuouy.  When  st),  they  ure  not 
wlxdly  .  xcliided  from  perstins  connnitted  for  crime.  There  is  no 
])rovision  made  tor  their  compenHut ion  for  loss  «>f  time  while  con- 
lined.  They  would  not  l»e  so  routined,  I'xcepl  for  very  high 
erinu',  and  theie  ure  not  unuiy  <  I  MUeh  in  this  (Mereer)  county. 

Pennsylvania: 
.l.il.  Uauci.av,  Ksq. — In  Philailclpliiatliey  arc  iK»t  so  im|tiis(»ned, 
lint  are  l\C[it  in  the  "delilor's  apartment.''     The^'  ure  paid  u  muuII 
compensation. 

Maryland: 
A.  SiKUMNo,  jr.,  Fisq.  In  our  county  jails,  there  is  lilth<  or  no 
s(>paration  of  witiavsses  froui  persons  <'liargcd  with  criinea.  In 
Hidlimore,  tli(>  Jail  is  a  very  superior  Iniilding,  and  veiy  coud'ort- 
aldc,  and  the  rooms  allotted  to  witnesses  are  as  good  as  could  Itu 
allotted  to  witnesses  in  any  system,  hilt  lliryare  no!  systemati- 
cally separated,  ihough  paitinl  ellorts  have  Iteen  made  to  do  so. 
Ai  entire  sepaiiilioii  is  greatly  to  he  (h'sired.  Witnesses  in  jail 
are  paid  a  per  diem  of  Hjit. 

Kentucky: 
No  answer. 


I 


628 


APPENDIX. 


Indiana: 

Hoy.  Conrad  Baker. — It  is  a  very  rare  occurrence  in  this  state 
that  witnesses  are  imprisoned  to  secure  their  testimony.  Tliere  is 
uo  provision  for  compensating  them  for  loss  of  time. 

Michigan: 

II.  K.  Clarke,  Esq. — Sometimes  they  are,  hut  not  alwaj'S. 
Their  compensation,  like  that  of  all  other  witnesses  in  criminal 
cases,  is  entirely  at  the  discretion  of  the  board  of  supervisors, 
except  in  cases  ^yhere  a  satisfactory  showing  is  made  to  the  court, 
that  a  witness  is  poor;  in  which  case  the  court  has  power  to  direct 
the  payment  of  an  allowance  out  of  the  county  treasury. 

Question  XXVI. 

Has  the  death  penalty  been  abolished?  If  not,  for  what  offenses 
is  it  intlictod?  If  it  has  been  abolished,  for  how  long  a  period  has 
the  new  system  been  in  lx)rce,  and  what  effect,  if  any,  has  it  had 
in  increasing  or  diminishing  the  crimes  for  which  it  was  formerly 
inflicted. 

s  Answers. 

Massaclnisetts:  '^y 

Geor(ie  W.  Searle,  Esq. — The  death  penalty  has  not  been 
abolished;  it  is  enforce<l  only  for  murder  in  the  tirst  degree. 

New  Hampshire: 
Hon.  S.  1).  Hell.  -The  death  penalty  has  not  been  abolished, 
but  it  is  limited  t<>  \hv  single  ease  of  murder  in  the  first  degree. 
Opinions  ditleras  to  the  effect  of  Its  disuse,  in  many  eases  whore 
the  law  (oinierly  would  have  inflicted  it.  No  means  exist  to 
determine  the  fiuestioiL 

('onneet'cut: 
Walth-  I'll  kin,    Esq. — The    death    penalty    is    inflicted    for 
treason,  nnirdor  iu  the  tirst    logree,  and  ari*<»n  ruusing  death. 

New  .JorNcyt 

CoKTiANDT  rARKEK,  EsQ. — The  death  penalty  has  not  been 
abflishi'd  fo.  '  uin  .  niid  treason,  nor  do  I  think  it  evi>r  will  Iki 
in  \«-vv  .Jcrs(  .  There  are  f«  '  wb«»  desire  it — noiu'  who  ojienly 
ftdviMMfc  it.  Vo  atlmipl  in  Imit  direction  hii-«  tM*ii  made.  It  is 
f»'lt  to  bi>  thf  only  elicck  upon  (Iioh*  wliosr  pax-ions  impel  tlicin 
to  t'xtnune  vioh'uee.  lf»  existence  does  not  increase  the  difhenlty 
of  obtaining  viM-dieN,  not  even  in  circinnNtanlial  eaneN.  The 
s(d«nniitv  of  the  issne  in  nuiider  trials  nuik*  s  jjirors  ean'ttd,  but 
not  captions.  Whenever  tin-  «leath  ot  a  fellow  creature  is  delH)- 
enitely  coinpassud,  ami  tiie  ease  is  really  proven,  there  ia  uo 
Mcapo. 


APPENDIX. 


529 


On  several  occasions,  where  men  have  been  on  trial  for  life  in 
New  Jersey,  the  jurors  established  regular  morning  and  evening 
prayer  during  their  confinement  together,  and  immediately  on 
retiring  for  final  deliberation,  knelt  together  while  one  implored 
wisdom  from  above.     Such  jurors  do  their  duty. 

John  F.  Hegeman,  Esq. — The  death  penalty  has  not  been 
abolished.  It  is  inflicted  for  treason  and  murder  in  the  first 
degree. 

Pennsylvania; 

J.  J.  Barclay,  Esq. — It  has  not;  but  it  is  inflicted  for  murder  of 
the  first  degree  alone. 

Maryland: 
A.  Steulino,  Jk.,  Esq. — The  death  penalty  exists  for  murder 
with  premeditation,  for  rape  and  arson;  in  the  two  latter  cases 
discretionary  with  the  judge. 

Ttontucky ; 

E.  L.  Van  Winkle,  Esq. — The  death  penalty,  as  before  stated, 
has  not  been  abolished. 

I  believe  that  a  chanjjo  in  our  criminal  law  abolishin<r  the  death 
penally,  except  in  case  of  expre^s.s  nmlice,  such  as  antecedent  threats, 
lying  in  wait,  or  whore  the  criino  of  murder  is  connnitteu  in  rob- 
bcry  or  burglary  or  poisoning,  or  an  attempt  at  either  would 
relieve  the  subject  of  much  dilHculty  by  insuring  punishment  in 
tlie  great  majority  of  cases  where  improper  ac(|uittals  now  oblain- 

Our  hiw  as  to  murder  is  tlie  common  hiw  witliout  any  statutory 
changes. 

Indiana: 

llov.  CoMtAi)  IVvKKi!,  EH(^ — The  (loath  penalty  has  not  boon 
abolislu'd.  ll  or  inipi-i.soninoni  for  lil'o  may,  in  the  disorotionof  tiio 
jury,  U{\  inllictod  for  treason  and  niiirdor  in  tho  lirsl  dogret>. 

This  discrotion  has  existed  sinoo  1841,  and  is  licliovetl  to  be  an 
iniprovcMuont  on  tlie  prcwions  U'giwhilion,  whioh  made  deatli  tho 
penalty  in  all  eases  of  treason  anil  uuudcr  in  the  first  degree. 

INIichijxan: 

II.  K.  Cr.vuK,  Eh(,>. — The  j,vin'ii>h>  of  (ho  death  [xMially  has 
been  retaineil,  that  ix'ing  (he  piniishntent  which  is  prescribiMl  for 
treason  against  theH(at«  ;  hut  it  has  been  fmivtkalhj  abolished,  m 
If  is  all(»\vcd  in  n«»  other  c;isc,  sine**  the  general  revision  of  tho 
HiahileM  in  184(1,  which  took  eH'cel  in  March,  1847.  What  ellect 
this  change  has  had  upon  th'>  eonnnission  of  the  crime,  It  is  not 
very  easy  |o  say.     T  know  I  hat  tho  opinion  has  been  exi)resse<l  by 

(Astern.  No.  af).]  81. 


':•":« 


630 


APPENDIX. 


gentlemen  whose  official  position  would  entitle  their  opinions  to 
much  consideration,  that  the  eflfect  has  not  been  to  increase  the 
commission  of  the  crime.  There  are  no  statistics  published,  that 
I  am  aware  of,  which  afford  any  reliable  data  for  such  comparisons 
as  might  lead  to  well  founded  conclusions.  The  nearest  approach 
we  have  to  any  such  statistics  are  the  annual  reports  by  the  prose- 
cuting attorneys  to  the  attorney  general.  These  are  usually  pub- 
lished with  the  attorney  general's  report  and  such  facts  as  they 
exhibit  from  1840  to  1864  inclusive,  except  for  the  years  1851  and 
1855,  which  are  not  just  now  accessible  to  me,  may  bo  found  in  the 
following  schedule: 


<M 

, 

POPULATION. 

YEAR. 

ii 

s  . 
P 

• 

^% 

ss. 

t  J 

^ 

6 

^ 

212,267 

1R40 

31 

9 

2 

1841 

31 

24 

4 

«. 

,     '  ** .          • 

1842 

31 

18 

1 

1843 

31 

22 

5 

*                  p.                                               *                             ' 

1844 

31 

20 

2 

93:14  : 

t  155:23 

''                                                                                                                [ 

155 

03 

2 

S02, 553 

1845 

31 

20 

1 

. 

184A 

31 

17 

5 

1847 

31 

22 

1 

1848 

81 

22 

8 

' 

, 

184V 
1850 

31 

25 

5 

* 

155 

106 

20 

307.054 

31 

20 

7 

n 

1851 
1852 

•• 

34 

27 

4 

1 

11 

1853 

34 

27 

4 

1854 

1855 
lH5(t 

36 

26 

8 

100:22 

:  :  135 :  30 

t 

135 

100 

22 

t 

51 1 , 720 

s 

41 

28 

16 

»f 

lNf.7 

46 

22 

« 

1 

1858 

40 

20 

25 

185U 

63 

31 

10 

110:00 

;  1  180:118 

m 

189 

no 

60 

B 

1 

==■•*" 

n;=-JS 

T4U,1I3 , .,. 

18N 

M 

64 

22 
43 

4 

u 

' 

M 

f 

IMI 

64 

.tt 

10 

1 

IMS 

6« 

41 

II 

I 

■ 

M» 

44 

18 

180:57 

:  :  277  !  83 

B  1              *• 

f 

m 

l« 

»T 

ISO;  us 


277  !  83 


APPENDIX. 


531 


But  it  will  be  observed  that  not  much  more  than  two-thirds 
of  the  prosecuting  attorneys  make  any  report,  in  some  years,  not 
one-half.  To  estimate  the  Avhole  from  data  furnished  by  a 
part  may  approximate  a  correct  result;  but  of  course  they  can- 
not be  relied  upon  with  sufficient  confidence  to  justify  any  very 
positive  conclusions  as  to  the  effect  of  the  abolition  of  the  death 
penalty  for  murder  upon  the  commission  of  that  offence.  The 
great  increase  of  population  during  the  twenty  five  years  referred 
to  makes  another  element  in  the  calculation,  which  increases  the 
difficulty  of  coming  with  any  certainty  to  a  reasonably  just  con- 
clusion. 

By  referring  to  the  schedule  it  will  be  seen  that  during  the 
period  of  the  first  five  years,  all  of  which  was  before  the  death 
penalty  was  abolished,  yoMr<ee»  murders  are  reported  by  the  pro- 
secuting attorneys  to  have  been  committed.  There  are,  however, 
but  ninety-three  of  these  reports,  when  the  whole  number  should 
have  been  one  hundred  and  fifty-five.  Assuming,  then,  that  if  all 
bad  reported,  the  number  of  murders  would  have  been  found  to 
bo  in  the  same  proportion,  the  whole  numl>or  would  be  twenty- 
three  in  five  years,  among  a  population,  which  at  the  beginning  of 
the  period,  numbered  212,267. 

Passing  over  the  next  period  of  five  years ;  that  being  the  one 
during  which  the  change  in  the  law  takes  place,  and  estimating 
the  probable  numinu'  of  murders  committed  from  1850  to  18G4 
included,  by  the  actual  reports  in  the  same  manner  as  before,  a 
total  of  thirty — an  in^.'cjise  of  seven.  But  the  population  had 
increased  from  212,207  at  the  beginning  of  the  first  period  (1840) 
of  five  years,  to  397, ($54  at  the  beginning  of  the  third,  (1850);  and 
if  crime  liad  increased  with  the  population,  then  the  actual  num- 
ber of  murders  connnitted  should  have  been  forty.three  ;  and 
thus,  though  an  actual  increase  of  al)out  twenty-five  per  cent  is 
shown,  there  is  a  decrease  relatively  to  the  population  of  about 
the  same  percentage. 

The  fourth  period,  however,  (fnmi  1855  to  1859),  shows  a  largo 
increase.  Ascertained  in  tiie  same  manner  as  before,  the  number 
of  murders  committed  arc  now  one  hundred  and  eighteen,  while 
the  numl»er,  if  no  greater  in  proportion  to  the  increased  popula- 
tion than  from  1840  to  1^44,  woubl  have  been  only  fifty-six  ;  an 
increase  of  only  fifty-six  per  cent.  To  what  shall  wo  attribute  this 
great  increase?  To  the  n(»w  well  understood  fact  which  has 
reached  all  classes  oi  the  community,  so  that  it  may  be  renMonabiy 
supposed  to  inlluenee  the  conduct  of  men — that  murder  is  only  a 
Htate  prison  oilence  ;  and  that  its  real  tin'pitude  has  diminished  in 
(he  [topular  apprehension  in  the  ratii)  ot  punislnnent?  Perhaps 
But  then,  what  shall  we  do  with  the  fimt^  asexhihited  during 


«<). 


the  next  live  years,  from  18()0  to  1804  ?  The  actual  and  estimated 
number  of  n\in'ders  during  this  period  amounts  to  eighty-three  ; 
but  no  mon^  than  (he  [)roportion  at  (ho  coinmeneement  of  the 
period,  by  the  satno  method  of  oumputatiun,  would  re(j[uire  scarcely 


532 


APPENDIX. 


eighty-one.  Shall  we  attribute  the  relative  diminution  to  the  war 
which  had  drawn  ofl'  to  other  «cenes  the  more  turbulent  spirits, 
who,  if  not  thus  employed  would  have  greatly  increased  the  airgre- 
gnto  of  crime  ?  This  is  certainly  a  reasonable  1m  pothesis.  Put  it 
is  evident  that  the  data  are,  as  yet,  too  few  and  too  uncertain  to 
base  on  them  any  satisfactory  conclusions  jw  to  the  effect  which 
the  abolition  of  this  state  of  the  death  penalt}  h  is  had  on  increasing 
or  diminshing  the  crimes  for  which  it  waa  formerly  inflicted. 
They  certainly  do  not  prove  a  diminution  of  crime  ;  whether  there 
l)e  really  an  increase,  and  whether  that  increase  be  attributable  to 
this  cause,  are  questions  Avhich  nnist  depend,  for  their  solution, 
upon  a  much  more  accurate  analysis  of  facts  than  I  have  been  able 
to  make,  and,  pehaps,  upon  the  consideration  of  a  much  wider 
range  of  operating  and  influencing  causes. 

II.  A.  Morrow,  Esq. — Yes,  since  1846.  It  has  not  had  the 
efl'ect  to  increase  the  crime  of  murder. 

•  Question  XXVII. 

Has  the  method  of  indictment  by  a  grand  jury  been  abolished 
in  your  state,  and  if  so,  what  system  has  been  substituted  in  its 
place,  and  what  has  been  found  to  be  the  operation  of  the  new 
system  ?  Please  state  your  opinion  on  this  point,  and  the  grounds 
of  it.  If  not  abolished,  has  any  attempt  in  that  direction  been 
made?  , 

Answers. 
Massachusetts  : 
Geo.  W.  Seaule,  Esq. — Indictment  by  a  grand  jury  is  still 
retsiin.cd;  and  no  eflbrt  at  the  abolition  of  the  grand  jury  system 
hns  bt'v'M  attempted.     1  think  all  e.>;  parte  hearings  objectionable, 
ttiid  I'uil,  the  grand  jury  system  will  yet  bo  abolished. 

New  Hampshire  : 
Hon.  S.  I).  WvAA.. — Indictments  are  not  abolished.  By  our  con- 
st iliit  ion  no  pci'son  can  i;«>  convicted  of  a  capilal  or  infamous  cri»ne, 
c-\co})t  on  indictment.  In  misdemeanors,  iniormations  by  the  at- 
torney general  or  solicitor  are  sustained,  and  are  occasionally  tiled. 
I'i'o.sceutions  before  justices  of  the  peace  are  commenced  by  com- 
pliiiut,  and  are  tiicd,  evi  n  on  a)q)eal,  on  such  (■onq)laint.  Justices 
have  the  usual  power  (o  bind  ovcm'  to  a  higher  court  for  trial  for 
oU'enees  bey<»n<l  their  own  jurisdiction,  \n\i  in  such  cases  indict- 
ments or  informal i'>iis  are  re(|uired.  No  attempt  has  been  made 
to  cliangc  the  sy-*tein.  It  is  regarded  as  one  of  the  most  important 
safeguards  of  tile  pul)lic  liberty. 

Connecticut : 
W.  PrriciN,  Ks(|. — It  is  not  necessary  in  ('(»nnecliciit  that  an  in- 
dictment 1)0  fountl  l)y  a  graiul  jiwy,  except  for  olleuces  punishable 
by  death,  and  in  our  practice  it  is  conlined  to  such  cases. 


APPENDIX. 


533 


New  Jersey  : 

CoRTLANUT  Pakker,  Esq. — We  adhere  to  the  common  law  sys- 
tem of  indictments.  No  man  is  tried,  except  he  waive  his  privi- 
lege, without  indictment.  And  the  constitution  guarantees  this 
and  trial  by  jury.  It  might  be  better  perhaps,  in  minor  offences, 
to  dispense  with  or  modify  these  provisions. 

J.  F.  Hegeman,  Esq. — The  method  of  presenting  crime  by  in- 
dictment by  grand  jury  has  not  been  abolished;  hardly  even  sug- 
gested to  abolish  it. 

Pennsylvania : 
J.  J.  Barclay,  Esq. — It  has  not  been  abolished,  and  it  is  hoped 
it  never  will  be.     Some  modify      '  >n  might  be  made,  whereby  the 


prisoner  or  defendant  in  mi> 
the  grand  jury  upon  a  bil 
Some  general  effort  has  be< 
assumed  no  definite  shape. 


(mors  might  waive  the  action  of 
<1  by  the  district  attorney. 
n  this  direction,  but  it  has 


Maryland : 
A.  Steruno,  Jr.,  Esq. — The  method  of  indictment  by  grand 
jury  remains  as  at  common  law. 

Kentucky  : 
E.  L.  ViVN  Winkle,  Esq. — The  grand  jury  has  not  been  abolished, 
nor  has  any  attempt  been  made  in  that  direction. 

Indiana: 
Hon.  Conrad  Baker. — It  has  been  abolished  as  to  misdemeanors, 
but  ViOt  as  to  felonies.  The  substitute  in  case  of  misdemeanors  is 
an  information  by  the  prosecuting  uttornej',  based  on  the  atHdavit 
of  some  Avitness  or  person.  This  system  has  been  in  force  since 
1852,  and  its  effect  has  been  to  increase  crime  by  failing  to  punish 
the  minor  offences.  It  is  found  by  experience  that  men  Avlll  not, 
unless  it  is  made  their  own  duty,  inform  upon  their  neighbors  for 
minor  offences.  The  result  is,  these  minor  offences  go  unpunished, 
and  this  begets  a  disregard  of  law,  and  increases  crime. 

Michigan  : 
II.  K.  Clarke,  Esq. — The  method  of  indictment  by  agrand  jury 
has  not  been  abolished  ;  but  a  proceeding  by  iufoiination  pre- 
sented by  Ihe  prosecuting  attorney,  is  now  permitted,  which  has 
superseded  almost  entirely  the  method  of  proceeding  by  Indiet- 
ment.  Grand  juries  are  occasionally  stnnnioned  when,  in  the 
opinion  of  the  court,  usually  upon  the  suggestion  of  the  prosecu- 
ting attorney,  any  useful  purpose  will  be  served  by  such  an  older. 
After  about  a  year's  experience  of  the  practical  effect  of  the  method 
of  prosecuting  accusations  by  "information,"  the  Hon.  Jacob  M. 


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634 


APPENDIX. 


Howard,  then  attorney  general  of  the  state  (now  one  of  the  sena* 
tors  representing  this  state  in  congress),  a  gentleman  of  great  ex* 
perience  and  ability,  and  thoroughly  competent  to  express  an 
opinion  on  the  qucs<tion,  expresses  that  opinion  in  his  annual  report 
to  the  governor  in  the  following  terms  : 

"It  affords  me  pleasure  to  be  able  to  report  that  the  act  of  last 
session  '  To  provide  for  the  trial  of  offenses  by  information,'  has 
been  found  to  work  well  in  practice.  Very  few  grand  juries  have 
been  called  since  it  went  into  operation,  and  a  very  great  saving 
of  expense  to  the  counties  has  thus  been  secured.  I  have  thus  far 
heard  of  no  instance  in  which  complaint  has  ariHcn  of  any  oppres- 
sive use  being  made  of  the  powers  given  to  the  prosecuting  attor« 
ncy  under  the  act,  and  I  cannot  doubt  that  with  such  trifling 
modifications  as  time  and  experience  may  suggest,  the  mode  now 
adopted  will  not  only  continue  to  be  the  policy  of  the  state,  but 
\n\\  be  imitated  by  many  of  our  sister  states."  Joint  documents 
of  1859,  No.  8,  page  84. 

I  have  reason  to  believe  that  experience  and  observation  since 
that  time  have  very  generally  confirmed  these  views. 

H.  A.  Morrow,  Esq. — The  system  of  indictment  has  been  abol- 
ished in  Michigan,  and  that  by  information  substituted  in  its  stead. 
The  now  system  has  fully  satisfied  the  anticipations  of  its  friends. 
Under  it  there  are  fewer  arraignments  and  more  convictions;  and 
liie  saving  in  expense  to  the  public  is  about  half.  Its  advantages 
arc  so  many  ancl  so  obvious  over  the  grand  jury  system,  that  there 
is  no  one  in  Michigan  who  would  return  to  the  latter. 


Question  XXVIII. 

Is  thera,  or  is  there  not,  found  to  bo  any  considerable  variety 
in  the  instructions  given  to  juries,  by  different  judges,  when  the 
question  of  insanity  is  at  issue? 

Answers. 
Massachusetts: 
Oko.  W.  8kaulk,  Esq. — The  Inst  ructions  givon  are  gciioroUy, 
in  substance,  tlio  Name  as  the  late  Chief  Junlice  8huw  gave  in  the 
case  of  the  Commonwealth  va.  Abner  UogvrN  (see  the  report  of 
that  trial).  The  need  of  a  more  comprclicnNive  formula  for  crimi- 
nal lunacy,  and  a  more  philoHophicnf  analysis  of  the  inind'N  dis- 
ease, with  a  tribunal  of  oxptMls  t^illy  loanuul  in  all  the  Ni'ientific 
relations  of  insanity  to  crime,  both  in  its  inedioal  and  logal  rami* 
finiiions,  and  Ailly  experienod  in  nil  the  practical  brancl.'s  of  the 
i«ubject,  is  felt  every  tintie  the  defense  of  insanity  is,  in  good  faith, 
interposed  in  behalf  of  a  criminal. 


APPENDIX. 


535 


New  Hampshire:  • 

Hon.  S.  D.  Bbll. — There  may  be,  and  probably  is,  much  differ* 
ence  in  the  instruaions  given  to  juries  by  difierent  judges,  upon 
the  subject  of  insanity.  It  is  a  very  difficult  subject.  Few  of  the 
judges  are,  or  feel  themselves  to  be,  experts.  They  do  as  their 
predecessors  have  done,  that  is,  endeavor  to  express  themselves 
as  nearly  as  they  can  in  the  language  of  the  highest  authorities  on 
the  subject. 

Connecticut: 
\y.  Pitkin,  Esq. — There  has  been  little  diversity  in  the  in* 
structions  of  our  different  judges  upon  the  subject  of  Insanity. 

New  Jersey:  ;  ' 

GoRTLANDT  Parkbr,  Eso. — Nor  are  our  juries  often  astray  on 
the  question  of  insanity.  When  homicide  has  been  committed  by 
those  smarting  under  iivjury  to  the  domestic  affections,  for  which 
the  ordinary  remedies  of  law  are  insufficient,  as  where  a  relative 
or  a  victim  slays  a  seducer,  they  have,  perhaps,  gone  wrong.  But 
research  will  prove  that  neither  in  Great  Baitam  or  the  United 
States,  was  there  ever  a  well  contested  case  where  such  error 
failed  to  occur.  It  deems  to  be  common  law  in  the  sense  of  the 
established  rules  for  the  action  of  the  common  people,  that  homi- 
cide in  such  cases  serves  the  guilty  right. 

In  Instances  other  thai\  this  exceptional  class  of  cases,  however, 
Jersey  juries  are  no  friends  of  the  plea  of  insanity.  The  law  on 
the  subject  is  well  bottled  in  New  Jersey,  and  the  instruction  of 
judges  to  juries  are  identical.  Chief  Justice  Hornblowor's  opin- 
ion, in  the  case  of  Spencer,  has  been  adopted  by  our  highest  tri> 
bunals,  and  has  been  put  in  full  uniformity.    If  a  prisoner  can 

Krove  clearly  that  through  mental  disease  he  did  not  know  the 
omicido  ho  comn)ittcd  was  wrong,  he  will  be  acquitted.  If  he 
cannot,  if  his  notion  was  revenge,  and  he  knew  that  he  did  what 
Qod  and  man  forbid,  no  comparative  feebleness  of  mind,  or  eooeU' 
trie  hallucination  will  save  him. 

The  rule  established  in  Now  Jersey  on  the  Mubjoot  of  challenges 
to  jurors  is,  and  has  been,  of  great  practical  luility  and  importance. 
In  New  York  and  elsewhere.  If  a  man  has  formed  or  expressed  an 
opinion  as  to  the  guilt  or  Innoccnoo  of  the  prisoner,  he  is  sot  aside. 
Consequently,  men  who  desire  not  to  be  empanelled — a  very  largo 
class  In  capital  oases — have  only  to  road,  or  hoar,  and  form  au 
opinltui.  And  the  number  and  enterprise  of  new^papors  practi- 
cally excludes  all  Intelligent  men,  for  who  does  not  read  and  does 
not  make  up  his  mind,  so  far  as  informed?  In  New  Jersey  the 
old  common  law  rule  prevails.  The  juror  Is  to  bo  sworn  to  give 
his  verdict  upon  the  ovidenoo.  If  ho  has  a  malioious  bias  against 
either  side,  so  that  In  oonsetpience,  If  what  he  has  heard,  he  Is  not 
likely  to  keep  his  oath,  then,  but  only  then,  Is  ho  excluded.    Suuh 


BH 


A?FBND1X. 


a  bias  seldom  occurs.    It  must  be  found  to  exist  by  triers.    And 
h^nce,  a  better  class  of  men  for  jurers. 

J.  F.  HBOEMAir,  Esq. — ^There  is  a  great  unity- in  tiio  views  and 
OAarges  of  our  judges  touching  the  insanity  of  defendants.  The 
law  on  that  subject  is  well  defined,  and  there  is  but  little  variance 
in  the  instructions  to  juries  on  the  -subject. 

■!  I' 

Pennsylvania : 
J.  J.  Barglat,  Esq. — ^There  have  been  differences  of  opinion, 
but  not  to  any  considerable  extent.    Chief  Justice  Gibson,  in 
Gommonwealth  va.  Moster,  4  Barr,  stated  the  law  upon  the  sub- 
ject of  insanity,  and  it  has  remained  unchanged. 

Maryland  : 

A.  Stbrlino,  Esq. — ^The  jury  are  the  judges  of  fact  and  law 
with  us,  in  criminal  cnsos,  that  is,  bv  our  constitution.  The  judge 
of  course  decides  all  questions  arising  during  the  trial.  It  has 
never  been  the  practice  to  charge  the  jury  on  the  evidence  in 
•criminal  cases,  nor  on  the  law,  unless  specifically  asked  for  by 
counsel.  If  counsel  ask  instructions  on  law,  the  courts  sometimes 
refuse  to  let  them  argue  the  contrary  to  the  jury,  but  practice 
differs  a  little.  The  law  is  generally  argued  to  the  jury  without 
any  instruction  from  the  court.  The  jury  may,  of  course,  nsk  the 
advice  of  the  court,  and,  in  purclv  legal  points,  unmixed  by  fact, 
frequently  do  so  where  there  is  difficulty. 

Kentucky : 

E.  L.  Van  Winkle,  Esq. — Much  contrariety  exists  in  this  state 
in  the  law  of  insanity,  as  expounded  by  our  circuit  judges  : 
especially  is  this  the  case,  where  the  defence  relies  upon  moral 
insanity  and  intellectual  monomania.  The  recent  expositions  of 
the  law  governing,  quostiouf  of  this  character,  by  our  appellate 
court,  will  doubtless  euro  this  evil  at  an  early  day. 


Indiana  : 

Hon.  Conrad  Bakkr. — I  think  no* 
defence  in  Indiana. 


Is  is  not  a  fashionable 


Michigan : 

H.  K.  Clarkb,  Esq. — I  siu  i.ot  iblo  to  answer. 
H.  A.  Morrow,  Esq. — There  is  a  considerable  variety  of  in* 
•tructions  given  to  juries  in  this  oloss  of  cases. 

QuEBTIo^  XXIX. 

Doos  the  exercise  of  the  pardoning  power  unfavorably  affect 
the  administration  of  justice?  Is  this  power  so  often  oxorcisod 
as;  in  your  judgment,  to  constitute  an  abuse  thereof?    Would  it 


APPENDIX. 


m 


be  expedient  to  have  this  power  in  any  way  restricted  by  law,  and 
if  so,  what  limitutions  would,  iu  your  opinion,  bo  likely  to  prove 
wise  and  eflfective  ? 

Answers. 
Massachusetts: 

George  W.  Sbarle,  Esq. — In  nSy  opinion  a  too  free  exercise 
of  the  pardoning  power  has  of  late  years  unfavorably  affected  the 
administration  of  justice  in  various  ways.  A  very  long  sentence 
is  considered  by  an  expert  oriniinal  as  the  most  favorable  one  he 
can  receive,  greatly  advancing  his  prospects  of  release  by  a  par- 
don  at  an  early  day.  Many  criminals  and  their  friends  neglect  to 
make  a  strong  defence  whore  one  really  may  exist,  relying  upon 
subsequent  executive  clemency.  Young  people  frequently  receive 
such  clemency  ut  the  expense  of  all  .-rccurity  of  the  public,  and 
with  the  jeopardy  of  the  entire  criminal  fabric  as  a  system  of 
rigorous  judgment. 

New  Hampshire:  ' 

Hon.  S.  D.  Bell. — I  think  judges  generally  regard  the  pardon« 
ing  power  as  operating  unfavorably  upon  the  administration  of 
justice.  Cases  occasionally  occur  of  pardons  which  astonish  the 
courts  before  which  the  trials  were  had  ;  but  the  courts  are  almost 
never  consulted  on  the  subject,  and  the  grounds  of  pardons  are 
never  communicated  to  them.  I  have  never  known  them  to  sit  in 
judgment  on  the  action  of  the  executive.  I  have  no  opinion 
whether  or  in  what  way  the  pardoning  power  could  be  wisely  or 
usefully  limited. 

Connecticut: 

Walteu  Pitkin,  Esq. — The  pardoning  power  in  this  state  is 
vested  in  the  leuislatnro.  It  is  liuliovod  by  those  most  conversant 
with  criminal  amiirs,  that  it  is  in  many  oases  improperly  cxorcistMl. 
Wherever  this  power  resides,  its  exercise  is  necessarily  a  nuitter 
of  discretion,  and  it  would  be  difHcult,  if  not  impracticable,  to 
define  by  law  the  cases  or  manner  in  which  it  muMt  be  exercised. 
All  that  can  be  done  is  io  locate  their  discretion  where  it  is  most 
likely  to  bo  exercised  intelligently,  and  *'  without  fear,  favor  or 
hope  of  reward." 

New  Jersey; 

(buTLANDT  Pahkioh,  Esq. — The  pordoningpoworof  New  Jersey 
is  lodged  in  a  court  of  ])ardonM,  so  popularly  called,  composed  of 
the  governor,  the  chancellor,  and  the  six  associate  judges  of  (ho 
court  of  appeals — (hose,  namely,  who  are  not  justices  of  the 
supreme  cour(,  The  governor  must  concur  in  all  pardons,  The 
i)lan  is  not  without  its  merits.  It  would  have  been  better  had  the 
Justices  of  the  supremo  court  been  among  its  members,  instead  of 


638 


APPENDIX. 


or  besides  the  other  judges  of  the  court  of  appeals.  The  "court" 
acts  without  publicity,  and  therefore  it  frequently  errs.  I  think 
it  does  "  unfavorably  affect  the  administration  of  justice."  Yet  its 
errors  are  unintentional  and  not  numerous.  If  it  v^ere  required 
that  the  application  for  pardon  in  all  cases  should  be  reported 
upon  by  the  judge  and  district  attorney  under  whom  the  ^ppli* 
cunt  was  convicted,  it  would  not  pardon  so  often  or  so  wrongfully. 
J.  F.  Hegbman,  Esq. — J  cannot  say  that  the  exercise  of  the  par< 
doning  power  is  abused  in  this  state  and  operates  against  justice. 
It  is  judiciously  exercised  upon  the  whole.  In  rare  cases  there 
may  be  error,  but  as  a  whole  there  is  no  ground  to  interfere  with 
it  or  restrict  it.  A  complaint  against  this  power,  or  the  abuse  of 
its  exercise,  is  scarcely  ever  heard. 

Pennsylvania: 

J.  J.  Barolat,  Esq. — There  has  been  in  time  past  an  abuse  of 
this  power,  but  for  several  years  the  executive  of  this  common- 
wealth, aided  by  the  eminent  attorney-general  of  the  state,  has 
adopted  a  series  of  rules  upon  the  subject,  which  have  had  an 
excellent  effect. 

This  power  ought  to  be  placed  in  the  hands  of  a  "  court  of 
pardons,"  to  consist  of  the  governor,  the  judges  of  the  supremo 
court,  and  the  president  of  the  common  pleas,  or  law  associates ; 
the  court  to  bo  composed  of  a  given  number  (say  five  members), 
and  the  judges  to  rotate  from  year  to  year,  say  one  or  two  judges 
of  the  supreme  court,  with  two  of  the  common  pleas. 

Maryland:  ' 

J.  A.  Sterlino,  Jr.,  Esq. — The  pardoning  power  is  restricted 
in  Maryland  so  far  as  to  require  the  governor  to  give  public  notice 
of  nil  applications,  to  call  on  all  persons  who  choose  to  show  cause 
why  a  pardon  should  not  be  granted,  and  to  report  all  pardons  to 
the  legislature.  This  ha»  had  a  good  effect,  though  still  there  has 
been  some  injury  done  to  justice,  little  by  our  late  executive,  Qov* 
ornor  Bradford,  who  has  been  very  careful.  His  successor  has 
only  been  in  office  a  few  days,  and  has  not  had  a  chance  to  show 
hift  nractice. 

The  pardoning  power,  it  seems,  must  rest  somewhere,  and  it 
cannot  bo  absohitely  guarded  against  aliuse.  ^ 

Kentucky: 

E.  L.  Van  Winkle,  Ksq. — The  pardoning  power  does  often 
unfavorably  affect  the  ailniinistraticui  of  justice,  and  when  so,  it 
certainly  an  abuse  of  the  power.  I  would,  however,  bo  disiii* 
vlinod  to  limit  its  exorcise  until  all  other  remedies  were  exhausted. 
If  the  executive  was  required  to  report  each  case  of  its  exercise, 
with  the  U»t  of  the  namt»  of  petitioner!  applying  for  the  pardon, 


APPENDIX. 


639 


•  A'i. 


much  good  would  result.  That  is,  if  the  law  required  the  gover- 
nor  to  publish  a  list  of  the  names  of  petitioners  in  an  annual 
report  to  the  legislature  merely,  without  any  ulterior  object  except 
to  give  publicity  to  the  action  of  those  procuring  the  pardon,  such 
legislation  would  impose  a  proper  restraint  upon  those  who  reck- 
lessly sign  all  manner  of  petitions  without  regard  to  the  merits  of 
any  given  case,  and  thus  impose  upon  the  executive  blame  which 
should  properly  attach  to  others. 

Indiana: 

Hon.  Conrad  Baker. — ^I  do  not  think  the  exercise  of  the  par- 
doning power  does  unfavorably  affect  the  administration  of  justice- 
It  is  sparingly  and  discreetly  exercised.  I  have  uo  suggestion  to 
make  as  to  its  restriction. 

Michigan: 

H.  K.  Clarke,  Esq. — I  have  no  doubt  that  the  frequent  exor- 
cise of  the  pardoning  power  does  unfavorably  affect  the  adminis- 
tration of  justice.  The  procuring  of  pardons  has  become  an 
important  practice  in  criminal  cases.  I  have  heard  that  it  is  not 
unusual  to  include  in  the  counsel  fee  for  a  criminal  defence,  ser- 
vices to  be  rendered  in  procuring  a  pardon  in  case  of  conviction. 
Yet  I  do  not  see  where  the  power  to  pardon  offences  can  be  more 
safely  and  appropriately  lodged  thun  with  the  chief  magistrate  of 
a  state. 

H.  A.  Morrow,  Esq. — The  exercise  of  the  pardoning  power 
affects  most  injuriously  the  administration  of  criminal  justice  in 
this  state.  It  is  exorcised  too  often  with  too  little  regard  to  the 
crimes  committed.  It  should  be  restricted  by  positive  law,  and 
the  limitation  should  be  this:  No  pardon  should  be  granted  ex- 
cept on  the  recommendation  of  the  judge  who  sontouccd,  and 
only  in  cases  whore  now  evidence  had  come  to  light  since  the  con- 
viction which  would,  if  produced  on  the  trial,  have  altered  or 
modified  the  sentenee. 

Question  XXX. 

Are  persons  sentenced  fV-r  life  more  fre(|uently  pardoned  than 
those  imprisoned  for  a  term  of  years?  If  yes,  what  is  believed 
to  bo  the  cause  of  liio  difference? 


Answers. 
Massachusetts: 
Obohok  W.  Skarlr,  Esq. — My  impression  is  that  persons  son* 
toneod  for  life  are  not  more  frequently  pardoned  than  thoMc  im- 
prisoned for  a  term  of  years.     Ibo  reuson  doul)tloMs  is  that  there 
arc  but  few  original  sentences  for  life,  and  those  prisoners  who 
•are  there  for  lite  have  had  capital  sontenoos  commuted  to  a  lifo 


ua 


APPENDIX. 


1^' 


imprisonment;  and  it  would  probably  be  a  rare  case  of  that  kind 
which  would  meet  with  executive  pardon. 

New  Hampshire: 
Hon.  S.  D.  Bell. — No  data  are  known  for  an  opinion  on  this 
question. 

Connecticut: 
W.  Pitkin,  Esq. — Persons  imprisoned  for  life  are  less  frequently 
pardoned  than  those  imprisoned  only  for  a  term  of  years. 

New  Jersey: 

C.  Parker,  Esq. — I  am  not  able  to  answer  this  question.  We 
have  no  imprisonment  for  life. 

J.  F.  Hegeman,  Esq. — I  cannot  answer  this  question.  I  don't 
think  there  is  any  diiference  caused  by  the  term  of  the  imprison- 


ment. The  grounds  of  pardon  are  generally  health,  repentance 
doubt  as  to  the  evidence  which  convicted,  new  evidence,  and  gen 
eral  considerations  of  public  policy. 


Pennsylvania: 
J.  J.  Barclay,  Esq. — This  question  cannot  bo  answered,  as  we 
believe  imprisonment  for  life  is  not  a  penalty  inflicted  in  Penu> 
sylvania  by  the  code. 

Maryland: 

A.  S^ERLiNO,  Jr.,  Esq. — We  have  no  life  sentences  except  by 
the  force  of  a  oonmmtatiou  of  death. 

There  are,  I  think,  more  pardons  in  short  than  long  terms.  In 
the  very  long  ones  the  party  becomes  forgotten  somewhat,  while 
the  shorter  ones  are  more  restless  and  their  friends  morn  active. 
Agaio,  the  shorter  ones  generally  have  som^  element  of  allevia- 
tion in  their  cases.  It  is  somewhat  the  custom,  too,  to  pardon 
convicts  on  good  behavior  a  short  time  before  the  expiration  of 
their  sentence. 

Kentucky: 
No  answer.  V 

Indiana: 
Hon.  Conrad  Baker. — I  do  not  believe  persons  sentenced  for 
life  are  more  frequently  pardoned   than  those  imprisoned  for  a 
term  of  years,  but  my  information  is  not  full  on  tins  point. 


Michigan: 
H.  K.  Clarke,  Esq. — I  do  not  know  that  this  Is  S9. 


(' 


0^ 


APPENDIX. 


HI 


Question'  XXXI. 

Is  there  in  your  state  a  system  of  annual  returns  of  criminal 
statistics?  If  so,  what  are  the  items  of  information  embraced  in 
it,  and  to  what  officer  are  the  returns  made? 

Answers. 
Massachusetts: 
George  W.  Searle,  Esq. — There  are  somewhat  extonsiye 
returns  of  criminal  statistics,  but  there  is  no  unit  system.  See 
reports  of  Attorney-Oeueral  and  the  various  reports  of  the  pri- 
sons in  Massachusetts,  in  the  library  of  the  New  York  Prison 
Association,  for  the  answer  to  the  remainder  of  this  question. 

New  Hampshire: 
Hon.  S,  D.  Bell. — There  is  no  system  of  returns  of  criminal 
statistics. 

Connecticut: 
Walter  Pitkin,  Ksq. — There  is  in  this  state  no  system,  strictly 
speaking,  of  returns  of  criminal  statistics.  An  annual  report  in, 
however,  made  to  the  legislature  by  the  superintendent  of  the 
state  prison  and  the  jailors  of  the  several  counties,  of  all  facts 
and  transactions  within  their  respective  departments,  with  many 
important  classifications. 

Now  Jersey: 

C.  Parker,  Esq. — There  is  no  system  of  annual  returns  of  crim- 
inal statistics.  * 

J.  F.  Heoeman. — I  have  seen  state  prison  returns  sotting  forth 
the  number  of  prisoners,  their  ages,  sexes,  color,  crimes,  nation- 
ality,  whether  able  to  read  and  write,  Ac,  but  I  cannot  now  lay 
my  hand  upon  any  statute  requinng  this  to  be  lone. 

Note. — I  find  the  statute  requiring  the  Stu  I'rison  Inspectors 
to  report  such  returns  yearly  to  the  Legislature.  Nixon^a  Digest^ 
page  812. 

Pennsylvania: 
J.  J.  Barclay,  Esq. — Inspectors  of  prisons  report  to  the  legisla- 
ture at  each  annual  soasion;  the  items  are  those  usually  embraced 
in  such  reports,  and  roforenco  can  be  made  to  these  reports. 

Maryland : 
A.  STKRiiiNO,  .iR.,  Esq. — Tho  beard  of  police  in  Baltimore,  make 
a  report  to  the  legislature,  of  arrests  and  their  causes  and  of  tho 
disposition  made  of  tho  parties.  Tho  managers  of  the  house  of 
refuge  report  to  the  legislature,  lilso  the  diructors  of  the  peniten- 
tiary.   The  grand  Jury  of  the  city  make  a  report  to  tho  criminal 


512 


APPENDIX. 


K 


.!3 


court,  of  the  condition  of  the  jail  and  penitentiary,  the  number  of 
prisoners  and  their  alleged  offences,  the  age,  sex  and  color  are 
severally  specified,  but  these  reports  are  not  digested,  nor  made 
into  any  general  system. 

Kentucky: 

E.  S.  Van  Winkle,  Esq. — We  have  no  system  of  annual  returns 
of  criminal  statistics,  except  that  shown  by  the  keeper  of  the  peni- 
tentiary, which  simply  contains  the  names  of  convicts,  the  crime 
for  which  they  were  convicted,  the  county  where  done  and  the 
term  of  confiuement. 

Indiana: 
Hon.  Conrad  Baker, — There  is  no  such  system  of  returns. 

Michigan: 

H.  K.  Clarke,  Esq. — The  only  system  of  annual  returns  of 
criminal  statistics,  provided  for  m  this  state,  is  that  which  is  con- 
templated b}'^  the  law,  requiring  prosecuting  attorneys  to  make 
annual  reports  to  the  attorney  general.  The  neglect  of  this  di^ty 
renders  the  officer  liable  to  a  penalty  of 'fifty  dollars.  The  viola- 
tions of  the  obligation  are  numerous,  but  prosecutions  for  the 
penalty,  I  believe,  are  unkiiown. 

The  annual  reports  of  the  inspectors  of  state  prison,  are  published 
in  the  annual  volume  of  "Joint  Documents,"  and  certain  items  that 
may  be  regarded  as  of  a  statistical  character. 

Question  XXXII. 

Has  any  code  of  criminal  procedure  been  adopted,  or  does  the 
common  law  practice  in  the  main  prevail. 

Answers. 

Massachusetts: 
Geo.  W.  Seaule,  Esq. — There  is  no  code  of  criminal  procedure; 
one  is  much  needed. 

New  Hampshire:  v, 

Hon.  8.  D.  Beel, — No  code  of  criminal  procedure  has  boon 
adopted.  The  common  law  practice  prevails,  us  modified  by  curly 
usage  and  numerous  statutes. 

Connecticut: 

W.  Pitkin,  Esq. — Our  criminal  practice  is  substantially  that 
of  the  common  law. 


rei 


APPENDDt. 


643 


New  Jersey: 

C.  Parker,  Esq. — ^No  code  of  criminal  procedure  has  been 
adopted;  the  common  law  practice  in  the  main  prevails. 

Pennsylvania: 

J.  J.  Barclay,  Esq. — Yea,  the  present  ci'iminal  code,  already 
referred  to,  was  adopted  in  1860. 

Maryland: 

A.  Sterling  jr.,  Esq. — ^We  have  no  codification  of  criminal  law. 
Our  code  is  a  mere  digest  of  statute  law. 

'        Kentucky: 

E.  S.  Van  Winkle,  Esq. — We  have  an  entire  new  system  of 
criminal  procedure,  known  as  the  criminal  code;  nevertheless,  we 
preserve  the  substance  of  the  old  in  all  its  essential  features,  with* 
out  its  useless  formalities. 

Indiana: 
Hon.  Conrad  Baker, — ^Ve  have  a  practice  act,  but  the  common 
law  in  the  main  prevails. 

Michigan : 
H.  K.  Clarke,  Esq. — The  common  law  practice  remains  in  full 
force,  with  hut  two  exceptions,  as  I  now  remember,  viz.,  the  accu* 
satiou  by  information  instead  of  by  indictment,  as  specified  in 
answer  to  interrogatory  No.  27,  and  the  change  \vhich  permits  a 
prisoner  to  make  an  unsworn  statement  of  facts,  which  the  jury 
are  allowed  to  consider  in  making  up  their  verdict. 

Question  XXXIII. 

What,  in  your  judgment,  if  any,  are  the  defects  in  the  existing 
system  of  criminal  procedure,  and  what  suggestions  can  you  offer 
on  the  subject  of  improvements  to  be  made  tnerein  ? 

Answers. 

Massachusetts: 

Geo.  W.  Searle,  Esq. — For  my  ideas  on  the  defects  of  our  sys- 
tem of  criminal  procedure,  and  for  some  suggestions  on  the  subject 
of  improvements  to  be  made,  see  my  article  on  the  Penal  System 
of  Masaachuaetta,  in  the  annual  report  of  the  Prison  Association 
iov  1864. 

Now  Hampshire: 

Hon.  S.  D.  Bell. — I  am  not  prepared  to  suggest  defects  or  im- 
provements iu  our  system. 


544 


▲PPKNDIX. 


Connecticut: 
"Walter  Pitkin,  Esq. — A  proper  answer  to  this  question  would 
require  a  more  elaborate  examination  of  our  entire  system  (and 
indeed  of  tlie  systems  in  the  other  states,  by  way  of  comparison), 
than  I  have  been  able  to  give  it. 

New  Jersey: 

C.  Parker,  Esq. — ^This  last  question  I  hardly  venture  to  answer. 
Undoubtedly  there  are  defects  in  the  criminal  law  of  New  Jersey. 
No  law  can  be  perfect.  The  merit  of  our  state  is,  that  her  legisla- 
tors have  reverenced  the  common  law,  and  been  very  careful  to 
avoid  making  many  changes  of  its  provisions.  One  great  excel- 
lence of  the  common  law  is  its  expansive  power.  No  changes  in 
society  can  affect  its  force.  It  strives  to  punish  all  moral  crime 
which  is  injurious  to  the  community.  New  Jersey,  guided  here 
by  the  calm  and  judicious  mind  of  Judge  Paterson,  one  of  the  most 
profound  jurists  and  excellent  men  the  country  has  produced,  first 
re-enacted  the  criminal  code  of  England,  as  found  on  her  statute 
book,  and  then  provided  that  all  offences  against  the  common  law 
should  be  properly  punished. 

The  defects  of  the  system  of  New  Jersey  are,  therefore,  'for  the 
most  part,  those  of  the  common  law;  and  one  is  the  system  of 
pleading.  It  is  altogether  too  precise  and  rigorous.  Ancient  law 
was  too  severe.  The  penalty  for  almost  everything  wjis  death. 
Hence  judges  set  themselv'S  to  work  to  find  ways  of  escape  for  the 
poor  creatures  accused  of  minor  crimes.  The  result  was  the  escape 
of  many  flagrant  offenders,  through  the  rigor  of  the  rules  adopted 
by  ancient  judges.  Were  I  a  legislator,  I  would  enact  hero  the 
code  for  pleading,  established  a  few  years  ago  in  England,  remark- 
able, above  all  others,  for  its  simplicity  and  comprehensiveness; 
and  I  would,  besides,  authorize  any  amendment  at  or  before  trial, 
which  appeared  necessary  and  fair. 

Another  serious  defect  is  the  absence  of  any  officer  whoso  duty 
it  is  to  SCO  to  the  prevention  and  detection  of  crime.  We  have  no 
district  attorneys;  we  have  only  prosecutors  of  the  pleas — that  is, 
officers  whoso  duty  it  is  to  prosecute  what  grand  juries  indict,  not 
to  see  to  it  that  all  offences  are  indicted.  Keeping  the  mode  of 
emolument  as  it  is,  dependent  on  success,  and  giving  prosecutors 
the  task  of  prevention  and  detection,  it  is  cany  to  see  how  diligent 
they  might  be  found.  Crime  mostly  springs  from  intemperance. 
As  the  law  now  stands,  the  prosecutor  who  aims  at  checking  this, 
l)y  indicting  rum  sellers,  is  a  simple  volunteer — his  motive  gain. 
Make  it  his  duty  and  retain  the  motive,  and  ho  would  be  likely, 
generally,  to  show  much,  though  it  is  hoped  not  too  much,  dili- 
gence. 

Another  serious  defect  is  the  modo  of  selecting  grand  and  petit 
juries.  The  sheriff  selects  grand  juries.  lie  is  elected  by  the  peo- 
ple.    They  then,  mediately,  select  the  grand  jury.     If  they  choose 


a  g< 
mor 
oft 
tim< 
wh( 
elec 
shoi 


APPENDIX. 


545 


would 

m  (and 

I'isou), 


a  good  sReriff,  n  nmn  of  duty,  depend  upon  it  tho  stnndurd  ot* 
morals  is  high;  and  so  if  otherwise.  As  the  sliontT,  so  tho  nioruls 
of  the  county.  Yet  that  officer,  being  eligible  each  year  throo 
times,  is  tempted  to  pander  to  the  powerful  class  of  citizens, 
whoso  business  is  serving  drink  to  other  people.  He  should  bo 
elected  for  three  years,  and  not  be  re-el igiblo;  and  grand  Juries 
should  bo  selected,  in  part,  l>y  tho  supreme  court  judge  of  tho  cir- 
cuit.  The  petit  Juries,  too,  should  be  selected  mure  carefully  than 
thoy  are.  • 

But  after  all,  these  are  but  small  matters,  coinparativoly.  It  is 
tho  happiness  uf  Jersey  men  to  live  in  a  state  where  law  is  care- 
fully and,  for  tho  most  part,  justly  administered;  where  the  rights 
of  life,  liberty  and  property  are  thoroughly  protected;  where 
honest  men  thrive,  and  tho  dishonest  and  criminal  very  rarely 
escape  punishment. 

John  F.  Heoeman,  Esq. — Tho  mode  of  procedure  is  not  miich 
defective;  it  would  bo  hard  to  suggest  material  improvements.  A 
multitude  of  snudl  offences — •'misdenioanors,  arising  out  of  tho 
liquor  laws,  Sunday  laws  and  petit  larcenies,  common  assaults, 
&c., — in  tho  cities,  ought  to  be  punished  more  promptly,  more 
certainly  and  less  expcn;  ively,  by  nnniicipal  polico  courts.  By 
depending  on  a  county  grand  jtny,  a  largo  number  are  passu ci  by 
without  any  notice  and  punishment  whatever — I  speak  of  this 
county,  and  Trenton  as  tho  city. 

Another  improvement  would  bo  in  increasing  tho  number  of 
peremptory  challenges  on  tho  part  of  tho  state.  We  now  havo 
ou\yfovr.  There  are  more  than  this  number  of  Jurors  on  a  panel 
of  forty-eight  who  sympathise  with  every  criminal  defendant,  and 
will,  if  possilile,  acquit  either  for  reward  or  sympathy. 

The  costs  on  an  indictment  in  case  of  conviction  are  too  /n'ffh. 
Jurors  are  reluctant  to  convict  in  many  <Mises  of  lesser  crimes 
where  tho  defendant  is  i)(>()r,  and  where  the  costs  will  fall  on 
tho  state  or  county  ultimately  in  case  of  conviction. 

Tho  mode  of  procedure  is  not  defective,  but  tho  want  of  integ- 
rity and  impartiality  in  the  juroi's  and  in  the  officers  who  aid  in 
administering  tho  law,  is  tho  great  want.  Intelligent  and  con- 
scientious men  could  do  all  that  is  required  or  dosiralilo  under  tho 
present  mode  of  procediU'c.  A  pure  public  morality,  h  gospel 
regeneration,  a  wide  [)ervading  religious  sentiment — tliose  arc 
what  we  need  to  insure  a  faithful  adnnnistration  of  criminal  law. 
We  have  more  of  those  than  some  localities  have,  but  our  hope  is 
just  hero. 

Pennsylvania: 
J.  J.   Bakclav,   Esq. — There   aro  defects,   of  coiu-se,  in   tho 
present  system,  l)ut  in  praclioo  these  defects  aro  to  l»o  ol»served  in 
tho  working  of  tho  system  in  largo  cities  rather  than  in  the  couu* 
try  districts. 

[Assom.  No.  35.]  8S 


546 


APPENDIX. 


In  the  country,  where  the  population  is  small,  the  courts  have 
abundant  time  to  dispose  of  all  cases,  and  the  delays  are  not 
lengthy,  but  in  a  city  like  Philadelphia,  the  population  being 
large,  cases  are  very  numerous,  and  various  causes  contribute  to 
produce  untortunnte  results,  for — 

Ist.  The  connnitting  magistrates  are  elected,  and  men  are  gene- 
rail}'  chosen  who  have  no  knowledge  of  law,  and  who,  in  many 
cases,  being  paid  bi/  fees,  endeavor  to  increase  their  own  gains, 
having  no  regard  to  the  welfllre  of  the  public;  in  many  instances, 
cases  are  sealed  by  the  dischai'ge  of  the  party  arrested,  or  insuffi> 
cient  bail  is  taken,  and  the  prisoner  thus  escapes.  It  is  unneces- 
sary to  enlarge  upon  the  defects  of  this  system,  as  it  can  at  once 
be  understood  bj'  any  person  familiar  with  the  administration  of 
criminal  justice.     This  is  the  chief  defect  in  our  system. 

2d.  After  cases  are  returned  to  court,  they  are  sj  numerous  that 
it  is  almost  impossible  to  try  them,  and  hence  many  delays  take 
place,  but  this  defect,  it  is  believed,  will  be  remedied  by  increas- 
mg  the  judicial  force. 

In  the  criminal  cod'^,  a  large  discretion  is  vested  in  the  courts, 
and  as  long  as  the  judges  bring  to  the  performance  of  their  duties 
honest  hearts,  a  reasonable  amount  of  legal  learning  and  common 
sense,  the  system  will  be  found  to  bo  an  admirable  one,  and  it  is 
hoped  that  the  day  will  not  soon  arrive  when  the  judges  will  bo 
selected  without  reference  to  individual  merit.  At  present  the 
system  works  very  well,  reference  being  had  to  the  powers  of  tho 
judge  alone. 

Maryland: 

A.  Sterling,  jr..  Esq. — I  am  in  favor  of  allowing  parties 
charged  with  crime  to  testify  in  their  own  behalf,  believing  that 
it  will  protect  innocence  and  punish  guilt.  I  think  that  many  of 
tho  technicalities  of  criminal  law  might  safely  be  removed,  keep- 
ing the  sul>stantial  barriers  of  elearnesH  and  detinitenoss  of  charges 
of  crime.  This  has  been  somewhat  done  here  by  allowing  limited 
amendments  of  indictments.  Tho  criminal  procedure,  though,  is 
generally  the  most  seientitic  and  best  detinod  Itranch  of  the  law. 
l{ef(U'niHtory  inNtitutions  are  tho  nu>st  important.  Specially  es8en> 
tial  are  the  reformation  and  punishment  of  the  erinnnal  classes  of 
children.     The  criminals  who  perpetrate  crimes  in  cold  blood 

fenerally  begin  young,  and  seldom  reform  after  20  years  of  ago. 
f  they  can  bo  taken  before  U)  or  IH,  they  niav  be  reformed,  and 
everything  ought  to  bo  done  to  (ake  these  children  and  change 
their  habits  and  character  by  reim  ving  them  from  the  cireum- 
stances  among  which  they  are  growing  up.  I  think,  good  as  the 
houses  of  refuge  are,  the  children  are  too  much  together  there. 
They  ought  to  lie  more  diHuHeil  and  separated.  We  liave  had  a 
manual  labtu*  school,  a  house  of  refuge,  a  home  for  fenmie  /agrant 
children,  au  aid  society  which  takes  children  not  charged  with 


APPENDIX. 


547 


crime,  but  of  the  vagrant  class,  and  3ends  them  to  the  comitry; 
but  in  all  our  cities  we  want  more  means  of  this  sort. 

Kentucky: 
E.  L.  Van  Winkle,  Esq. — I  have  no  suggestions  in  regard  to 
tlie  improvement  of  our  criminal  system  of  procedure,  ex?ept 
adding  mom  stringent  rules  for  courts  in  determi;  ing  the  suffi- 
jiencj'  of  bail,  and  the  grounds  for  postponement  of  trials,  for 
herein  lies  the  principal  source  of  escape  from  punishment  in  tho 
admiuistratiou  of  criminal  law  iu  Kentucky,  &c. 

Indiana: 

Hon.  C  Bakkr. — The  prominent  defects  in  the  existing  system 
of  criminal  procedure  are,  in  my  judgment,  two,  and  both  have 
their  origin  in  the  innovations  made  in  1852. 

The  Jirst  consists  in  taking  from  the  grand  juries  their  jurisdic- 
tion over  misdemeanors;  the  second,  in  giving  to  the  defendants' 
attorney  in  all  prosecutions,  the  right  to  make  tho  closing  argu- 
ment to  the  jury. 

A  return  to  tho  ancient  landmarks  on  these  two  points,  with  an 
increased  rate  of  compensation  to  tho  prosecuting  attorneys,  such 
as  would  induce  men  of  a  higher  order  of  talent  to  accept  these 
positions,  would  add  greatly  to  tho  etHciency  of  our  system. 

As  it  is,  my  bcliet  is  that  it  will  compare  favorably,  so  far  as 
results  are  concerned,  with  tho  systems  of  other  states  of  the  union. 

Michigan : 

H.  K.  Clauke,  Esq. — I  have  nothing  to  ofler  in  reply  to  this 
question. 


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